2016 polls: Mahama must keep Veep

It will be politically incorrect for President John Mahama to replace Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as his running mate for the 2016 elections, a senior lecturer at the political science department of the University of Ghana, Dr Evans Aggrey Darko has said.

According to Dr Aggrey Darko, President Mahama will do the National Democratic Congress (NDC) a lot of favour if he maintains the former governor of the Bank of Ghana as his running mate. He said in the history of world politics, hardly do incumbent presidents change their running mates.

He, however, said the prerogative rests with the President based on the chemistry existing between the two of them.

In his opinion, President Mahama must take into account, the implications his decision could have on the party’s electoral fortunes in the Central Region – Mr Amissah-Arthur’s home region.

“I don’t think it will be politically correct for the NDC if the President changes his running mate. I think the President is likely to settle on the Vice-President once again,” Dr Aggrey Darko told Class News on Wednesday.

He noted that in the USA, Presidents, who decided to change their running mates suffered serious political backlash, which eventually affected their electoral fortunes.

“Choosing a running mate is not about being active or not,” Dr Aggrey Darko said in response to critics who say Mr Amissah-Arthur dull-nature makes him unfit to occupy the position.

“If you look at the constitution and the role of the Vice-President, you will realise that if you are the President and want to really engage the Vice-President, you will, because he virtually serves at your pleasure.

“[A] lot of the things the Vice-President does is based on delegation of authority from the President,” he said, adding that: “If you are a President and you want to engage your Vice-President you will be able to engage him. If you don’t want to, then he becomes a passenger in your administration,” Dr Aggrey Darko observed.

According to him, Ghanaians cannot say Mr Amissah-Arthur has not been working because behind the scenes, he is an economist of repute “so you will not be able to say that he has not worked”.