Branch Executives of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Greater Accra Region are over the moon following the long-awaited announcement by former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, that he will contest for the 2024 presidential ticket of the party.
At a press conference in Accra, the executives sang victory songs, chanted revolutionary slogans and held a minutes long ovation to welcome the announcement by the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana whose service as Finance Minister under the late President Mills remains the best in the fourth republic.
“We are grateful to fate that this day has come. All that we were praying for was for Dr. Duffuor not to trail out of the race; in fact over this fear, some of us had sleepless nights. But the time has come to celebrate because Dr. Duffuor has put himself up to save our party and our country,” parts of their statement read. It was signed by Francis Anyidoho, a Branch Secretary of the party and endorsed by sixteen others.
According to the statement, “This declaration puts NDC’s first foot in the Jubilee House because Dr. Duffuor is in the kind of cast that the NPP cannot in anyway cast down; he is not like John Mahama who sat down and allowed himself to be branded as incompetent.”
Dr. Duffuor lifted the mood in the camp of the NDC when he finally declared that he would be picking up nomination form for the 2024 presidential ticket when the NDC opens nominations.
"Today, I officially announce my intention to contest for the Flagbearership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) anytime the party opens nominations."I will offer myself once again to serve the land of my birth with humility and sacrifice when given the chance to do so," Dr. Duffuor stated.
This makes him the second person to declare intent for the 2024 presidential ticket after former Mayor of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu, had declared.
For the Branch Executives, “Dr. Duffuor’s declaration is double-edged salvation for both the NDC and Ghana.”
Their statement said that, “In Ghana, everybody knows that the current state of the economy calls for a tried, tested and true Economist and business person to run the country. The NPP is bringing Bawumia and everybody knows that Bawumia is no match for Dr. Kwabena Duffuor when it comes to track records – When Dr. Duffuor was Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the cedi was stable, when he was Finance Minister, inflation came down to single a digit. Bawumia was deputy governor at BoG when we did redenomination and it has proven to be a failure. As Vice President and head of the economic management team, he has supervised the country’s current recession.”
They said they were happy that Dr. Duffuor “has lent himself to the NDC because, “as a party, we seriously need to remove the Mahama spectre from our image which cost us the two previous elections.”
The statement said Dr. Duffuor’s candidature, “will make it even easier for the NDC to win the 2024 election just like the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) predicted”
Furthermore, they said Dr. Duffuor has proven himself a man who the party’s grassroots can rely on because even in opposition, the man out of his own pockets has started the Ahotor project which is helping party grassroots members to start economic livelihood projects for themselves.
The Branch Executives said that Dr. Duffuor is the new revolution, calling on the NDC, “not to stand in the way of this revolution to save Ghana again.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Duffuor’s track record and academic laurels have been grabbing attention in the media. Many people did not know but he is a former classmate of United States President, Joe Biden.
Duffuor is a graduate of the University of Ghana and Syracuse University in New York. An accomplished entrepreneur, he is the founder of Unibank and UniCredit which the incompetent and vindictive Akufo-Addo government collapsed under the pretext of a banking sector clean-up.
Dr. Duffuor has since been in court and under pressure from the Akufo-Addo government.
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Dr. Kwabena Duffuor