Private Legal Practitioner, Martin Kpebu strongly believes the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be better off with an Akan-speaking Vice President than a Voltarian if the party wants to win the 2020 general election.
His assertion is in contrast to claims by members of the party that the NDC stands a high chance of losing the general elections because Voltarians are not among the party leaders.
Defeated National Organiser aspirant, Anita Desoso raised concerns about the lack of representation from the region stating that the defeat of many Voltarian candidates who were aspiring to frontline positions meant that Ewes have been sidelined from the game.
Some analyst and party members have therefore started making a case for a Voltarian to be made the running mate to whoever is elected flagbearer.
But Martin Kpebu believes otherwise stressing that the NDC need not worry about the Volta Region since it’s their electoral world bank.
According to him, it’s about time the NDC focused on other regions by marginalising their territory than be worried about losing seats at their world bank.
He maintained that having Akan-speaking people as frontiers of the party means more diversity which represents a new branding for the NDC hence higher chances of winning the elections.
“It represents to some extent a new branding for the NDC, it’s good because you know NDC too has largely been seen as a party for Voltarians and Northerners…I think in the long term its good for them because it will help to galvanise the Akan-speaking people for them and it’s all about the votes….if the Volta Region is seen as the world bank then that means that is a constant so why don’t you rather do it in such a way that you seek to woo other people in. So that is why I think that it’s good because when you do that you woo other tribes. So you take measures that would make sure that you’re attracting new members not to just pacify the hardcore”, he said.
He further advised that whoever wins the flagbearership race, although he believes Mahama will win, must choose an Akan person as Vice President in order to woo the hearts of people in the other regions since the party already has the Volta Region as their world bank.
“Right now vice slot, I’m not exactly sure how that would work out because Volta Region is the world bank so that’s taken as a constant but I’m sure behind the scenes they can do something to pacify them, so if that’s taken as a constant you should take measures that would enable you to get more supporters. So they should look to the Akan-speaking area rather, they would be better off with an Akan-speaking Vice President than with a Voltarian…Since it looks like Mahama will win the ticket, they should bring an Akan-speaking Vice President, so on that score it’s better to pick an Akan-speaking Vice President that would represent balance to the NDC ticket”, he added.
