Asks Kodwo Sakyi Oppong
WITH the dust settled on the choice of running mate for the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), all attention will now be focused on the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as the December 7 elections draw near.
As is to be expected, some names have been making the rounds since Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo put the gruelling task of winning the presidential nomination behind him in December last year and the topic among the chattering classes of Danquah-Busia followers is the question of who will emerge as the best choice on Nana's ticket.
So far, a number of personalities, including Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, a member of the Council of State; Ms Joyce Aryee, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines; Hajia Alima Mahama, the MP for Nalerigu and Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, and Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, have emerged.
Others include Lepowura Nurudeen Jawula, the Chief Director of the Health Ministry; Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, the Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister; Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, the Northern Regional Minister; Mr Rashid Bawa, Ghana’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the President of the ECOWAS Commission and former Deputy Minister of Education and Foreign Affairs in the NDC regime.
Generally, running mates are chosen because they possess qualities that the presidential candidate lacks or they represent political or geographical constituencies which the candidate finds difficult to appeal to. This is known as 'balancing the ticket'.
Balancing the ticket can also be a useful way to heal any wounds caused by a divisive primary campaign. Occasionally, however, a presidential candidate picks a running mate who reinforces his perceived strengths.
So what special qualities will each of the personalities bring to a Nana Akufo-Addo ticket or what qualities will he consider in choosing whoever will partner him for the critical December 7 poll?
MRS GIFTY AFFENYI-DADZIE: A journalist, businesswoman and God-centred member of the Council of State will bring to the table impeccable integrity.
She is hardworking, and it was during her tenure as President of the Ghana Journalists Association that she rallied the establishment to build the famous Accra International Press Centre.
She has, however, not held any high political office and she also has no real 'constituency' in terms of politics. But as the Prayer Director of the Women’s Aglow International, she has a big base in the Christian community.
Ms Joyce Aryee: Also a charismatic Christian, has great integrity and is the founder and executive director of Salt & Light Ministries, a Christian, para-church organisation in the country. She is not only the first woman to head the Ghanaian Chamber but the first in Africa as a whole. A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms Aryee is an experienced scriptwriter. Her specialities are primarily in the fields of environmental management, public relations and the complete development of people. She is also a trainer in leadership skills.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations, has edited an educational magazine and is a contributing editor of a leading business publication in Ghana.
Ms Aryee served nine years as a minister, both of Information and Education, in the PNDC regime. She is currently the Chairperson of the UN Global Compact Subcommittee on Environment in Ghana, Vice-President of the Ghana Employers' Association, among other portfolios.
What does not seem to favour Ms Aryee is her lack of a 'constituency' to test her popularity. Nonetheless, her tenure as Minister of Education was one period when there was calm in the educational sector because of the tactful way she dealt with the needs of teachers and educational workers.
Hajia Alima Mahama: A lawyer by profession, hails from Nalerigu. She is the MP for the Nalerigu/Gambaga Constituency and an Old Girl of Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast. She was born at Walewale in the Northern Region.
Hajia Mahama served as Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development from May 2001 to April 2003. She was also the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry from May 2003 to January 2005, before being appointed Minister of Women and Children's Affairs.
She is intelligent, popular and very much liked in the three northern regions. She has, however, not had a long enough exposure in politics.
Mrs oboshie Sai Cofie: She is a Ga from La and daughter of a prominent figure of the party, Prof. Fred Torgbor Sai. She is a successful communications practitioner who put her expertise to the service of the party in the 2000 elections..
She held various positions in government, topping it up with the Information Minister portfolio.
But like Gifty and Joyce, she has no real 'constituency' to test her popularity but the GaDangmes and gender activists would welcome a gesture from Nana Addo to make her his running mate.
Lepowura Jawula: Even though has always been in the Public Service (he has worked at the Finance Ministry, Ports and Railways before his present posting to the Health Ministry), is more famous in football circles where he served as the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association between 1997 and 2003. It was during his tenure that the Under-20 team won the African Championship in Accra while Hearts also won the Africa Champions Cup.
He has a powerful personality but is hardly known in political circles. Moreover, with the Constitution barring chiefs from active participation in politics, it will be difficult to see how the Lepowura can still remain a chief and dabble in politics.
Alhaji boniface: He has had a clean run in all the portfolios he has served in under President Kufuor. His records as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (as it was then), Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City (as it was then), Minister of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment and now Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing “are par excellent”, he pointed out, arguing that only a few people would have the kind of round experience that he had had over the last seven years, with the last three years being spent as a member of Cabinet.
He was appointed the Northern Regional Minister in 2005, by far the most complicated region to administer because of its sheer size and ethnic differences and conflict. It is yet to be seen whether his geographical appeal will go beyond the north.
Alhaji Idris: He is a strong member of the party and a graduate of the University of Ghana. He is a member of Vikings, the old students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the university. He was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the inception of the NPP regime and later Minister of Works and Housing.
Alhaji Idris is a former MP for the defunct Gukpegu-Sabongida Constituency in Tamale before three new constituencies were created. He later lost the Tamale South seat to Haruna Iddrisu, the NDC Youth Organiser, and subsequently lost his ministerial portfolio after the 2004 polls.
He was recalled to the Northern Region as minister after last year's ministerial reshuffle. Prior to that, he was Chairman of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
He is considered affable but one wonders how the Dagbon crisis will play out in case he pairs Nana Addo for the December polls.
Rashid Bawa: He is an outgoing, proactive, goal-oriented, affable and hardworking person. He was born at Kadjebi in the Volta Region on January 6, 1959.
Mr Bawa schooled at the Kadjebi-Asato Secondary School for both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level certificates, leaving the school in 1982 for the University of Ghana where he obtained a BA (Hons) in 1986.
He enrolled at the Ghana School of Law and graduated in 1988. Mr Bawa has worked in various capacities as Legal Adviser, Ga District Assembly; Legal Officer of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART). He also worked as Secretary and Head of NPART at various times.
In 2000, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Akan as an independent candidate. During the period that he was MP, he was a member of the ECOWAS Parliament and also a member of the Public Accounts, Business and Communications Committee of Parliament.
Mr Bawa stood on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2004 but lost. He has served as Deputy Minister and Minister of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and during the period he worked with the Bid Committee to ensure that Ghana won the right to host the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
Presently, Mr Bawa is the nation’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with concurrent accreditation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, the State of Qatar, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen and the State of Kuwait.
He is an affable person, with a big influence in the Muslim communities, particularly the Zongo areas.
DR IBN Chambas: A gentleman's gentleman, has got very rich credentials which easily make him the front-runner in the race for Nana Addo's running mate. A former NDC MP for Bimbilla in the Northern Region, media reports indicate that Dr Chambas is a card-bearing member of the NPP — a decision he personally took after being recommended by President Kufuor for the high office of Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission about seven years ago. And, clearly, that further strengthens his chances.
He was appointed President of the ECOWAS Commission by the Authority of African Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 14, 2006, when the sub-regional body was reformed.
As Chief Executive Officer of the 15 member West African regional organisation, Dr. Chambas has successfully positioned ECOWAS as a model regional organisation in Africa due to its accomplishments in the resolution of the conflicts in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Togo. He has increased the profile of the organisation internationally and forged beneficial relations between it and developments partners such as the United Nations, the European Union, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and numerous donor countries. Also, the relationship between ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) Commission has grown stronger under his tenure.
Dr Chambas first entered Government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Minister. As Deputy Foreign Minister, he was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries such as the United States of America, China, United Kingdom, France, Malaysia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, etc. He also led Ghana's delegation to several countries and conferences including the United Nations General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African Sates (ECOWAS), the Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries (NAM), the Commonwealth, etc.
Dr Chambas, 57, has his rich experience in international relations and skills in negotiations and conflict resolution.
Born on December 7, 1950, Dr Chambas is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic who commands a lot of respect among a large number of Muslim leaders and has a huge reputation that cuts across nearly all ethnic divides in the country.
A former student leader, he attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, and the Government Secondary School, Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, PhD (1980). He also has a law degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Between April 1997 and December 2000, he was the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education.
His skills in negotiations and conflict resolution clearly manifested themselves in the manner in which he handled volatile student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other staff members.
Dr Chambas, a Muslim, is married. His hobbies are soccer and horse riding.
So, really, what qualities should Nana Addo be looking for? What qualities are important in choosing a running mate? Should he play the gender card because the NDC messed up with the choice of Betty Mould-Iddrisu? Should he go for a Muslim because that seems to be the tradition of the party? Just what should he do?
For me, the most essential qualities are: ONE: A patently obvious ability to handle the job of President. Voters would want the assurance that the Veep could step in at a moment's notice. Indeed, vice-presidents, as they say, are only a heartbeat away from the presidency and must be someone acceptable by all Ghanaians.
TWO: The running mate must also be quite youthful. Nana Addo himself is already 63 and he should not choose anybody who is over 60. Voters don't like instability. The thought of one candidate more than 60 might be acceptable but the thought that both candidates are past retiring age might be too risky.
THREE: The candidate ought to be well rounded. Not only must he be well versed in foreign policy but also show up some real expertise on domestic issues as well. Moreover, the running mate ought to have a resume that doesn't say he's a full-time conventional politician. At least, one item on the resume should say that this somebody isn't just a political climber but a doer.
FOUR: It is preferable for a running mate to have some executive experience, whether inside government or out.
FIVE: The Veep nominee needs to be more “cool” than “hot”. Whether one likes it or not, Nana is perceived as someone who wants to reach through the TV screen and shake sense into the viewer and he needs to be balanced by a calm voice.
SIX: The running mate also needs somebody solid on all three legs of the Danquah-Busia stool. He must be someone the media establishment and intelligentsia will universally recognise and respect. Again, he must be someone of solid principles and temperament.
SEVEN: The running mate must have superb brains. Being articulate and telegenic are also important.
So, what will an Ibn Chambas candidature bring to Nana's ticket? What qualities or additional values will Chambas or ‘Chambo’, as he is popularly called, bring to the table?
For me, the qualities or values I foresee Chambas bringing to Nana's ticket are simply priceless — he brings youthful exuberance, honesty, integrity, a great understanding of the political-economic situation of the country, rich experience and, above all, a huge international exposure.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will, therefore, not only woo some NDC voters, but also attract many floating voters in general. Indeed, the fact the NPP was able to capture the Bimbilla seat from the NDC, following Chambas' resignation after his appointment to the high office of Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS, speaks volumes of the man's popularity and his ability to swing voters.
A Nana-Chambas ticket will also hold greater attraction and voter appeal for a nation of predominantly Christians and Muslims than the monotonous Christian-Christian deal being offered by John and John on the NDC ticket.
Furthermore, a Nana-Chambas ticket will help deepen good governance, the rule of law and democracy because the two gentlemen are exponents of those great values.
Finally, a Nana-Chambas ticket will put paid to the ugly noises being produced by some commentators in hailing the NDC John and John pairing as the greatest thing that has happened in the Ghanaian political landscape in recent times.
Mr Bawa appears to be the man to partner Nana Addo for the December polls. However, Dr Chambas poses a great threat to that ambition. Even though many see Mr Bawa as a party man, if the NPP is looking for someone who appeals to voters beyond the NPP, then the odds really favour Dr Chambas.
So Nana, don't hesitate whatsoever. Go for Dr Chambas and go for victory on December 7. Don't put too much premium on the talk by some hawks in your party that Chambas is not a blue party man or that he is relatively too young in the party to be offered such a high office of state.
For goodness sake, his rich credentials and strengths far, far outweigh any such negative thoughts. Let your sound judgement prevail. Many, many Ghanaians simply love him. He is the amazing schemer you need to completely put your team in perfect shape for victory on December 7.
Go for him. And all Ghanaians would roar in unison — 'NAA NANA, NAA CHAMBAS! AGBE NAA!!'
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