50 of 94 'Mahama MPs' confided in me they were tricked – Bagbin

Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has said 50 out of some 94 Members of Parliament who purportedly signed a piece of paper to ostensibly endorse former President John Mahama for the flag bearer slot of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), secretly confessed to him that they were tricked into doing so.

“Recently, a group of young MPs came out to say that 94 of them had supposedly signed a list and that list was said to be in support of one of the yet-to-be-declared aspirants for the position of flag bearer.

“I’ll not want to go into detail, but treat that as part of the propaganda politics that we have in this country because after that number, about 50 of the NDC MPs came to me, in my office, to tell me that they were not told that that list was meant to be used to support His Excellency the former President John Dramani Mahama”, the seven-time MP and flag bearer aspirant told journalists in the Volta Region over the weekend.

Builsa South MP, Dr Clement Apaak, told Asempa FM on Tuesday, 31 July that out of 106 NDC MPs, 94 of them had endorsed Mr Mahama as their preferred candidate for the flag bearer slot.

The MPs have even formed a group called MPS4JM (Members of Parliament for John Mahama), allegedly with the full support of their constituents.

However, some of them, including Keta MP Richard Quashigah and Yunyoo MP Joseph Naabu, came out to deny any such endorsement. According to Mr Naabu, he was tricked into signing the piece of paper which, he claimed had been passed around as an attendant sheet.

The NDC will be electing a flag bearer in December this year.

Apart from Mr Bagbin, some of the aspirants who have officially informed the party of their intention, include former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof Joshua Alabi; former CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah; former Minister of Trade and Industries Ekow Spio-Garbrah; Mr Stephen Atubiga and private legal practitioner Elikplim Agbemava.

Mr Mahama is rumoured to be readying himself to jump into the race but he has not yet written to the party officially to declare such intention.