The Founding President of IMANI-Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has expressed doubts about the swearing-in of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as the next President.
According to him, Dr Bawumia will be denied this coronation against the wishes of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) elites and gatekeepers because he has lost some of his shine with the grassroots.
He said this following NPP’s recent primaries on November 4, where Dr. Bawumia was elected as the flagbearer.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia emerged victorious with 61.47% of valid votes in the NPP primaries, securing the party’s nomination for the race to the presidency.
Dr Bawumia polled 118,210 votes representing 61.47%, while his closest contender Kennedy Agyapong, polled 71,996 votes representing 37.41%.
Mr Cudjoe said that despite Dr Bawumia’s victory in the party’s presidential primary, his chances of winning the 2024 general elections seem uncertain.
According to Mr Cudjoe, historical data suggested that no candidate in Ghana had won the general elections with less than 64 percent endorsement from the internal party elections, except for a unique circumstance in 2000 when there was a significant shift in power.
“The Veep’s projected 61.5% victory in today’s primaries was lower than the 68% victory he won during the Super-Delegates pre-primaries. This is consistent with the theory that the grassroots are less excited by him than are the elites.”
The founding President of IMANI Africa stressed that Dr Bawumia’s endorsement is in spite of one of his main rivals, Alan Kyerematen dropping out of the race.
Mr Cudjoe emphasised that had this rival stayed, the vice president’s support might have dipped even further, considering the differing followership between this rival and the runner-up in the recent primaries.
Franklin Cudjoe stressed that the grassroots’ diminishing excitement towards Bawumia is evident despite the support he received and emphasised that Bawumia might face a challenge in securing the presidency in 2024 due to these factors.
