Popular Pollster, Ben Ephson, has said he expects to see Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom’s name on the presidential ballot of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in 2024.
His prediction comes on the back of news on Monday, August 3, 2020, that Dr Nduom will not run for president in this year’s general elections.
Papa Kwesi Nduom’s PPP is regarded as the third force in Ghana’s politics after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Although the PPP polled less than 1% in the 2016 elections (0.99%), it did better than the Convention People’s Party (CPP) – which was the third force before PPP was formed.
Dr Nduom’s announcement that he will stay out of the 2020 elections comes as no surprise because the PPP disclosed some weeks ago that it is ready for eligible persons to demonstrate an interest in becoming the presidential candidate for the 2020 general election, adding that it did not expect Dr Nduom to put in a bid.
Also, Dr Nduom’s financial institutions were hit hard by the banking sector clean up and his fund management company, Blackshield Capital Management (formerly Gold Coast Fund Management), is indebted to a significant number of people.
Although some see his absence in the 2020 polls as an indication of the end of his political career, Ben Ephson told GhanaWeb that Dr Nduom’s decision not to contest the elections is a sensible one.
According to Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Dr Nduom’s name on a PPP ballot could invite critical attacks, especially from people that his company is indebted to.
“I am sure by 2024 he would have re-branded himself and he would have gotten on his feet. He would have gotten out of the financial mess,” he said.
Ben Ephson is of the view that as a third force to be reckoned with in Ghana’s politics, he doubts that the party will relinquish this position easily to the CPP and Dr Abu Sakara, the CPP presidential candidate in the 2012 polls, who he praised highly.
“If Dr Sakara has a lot of funds, he will do very well in this election because he did so well in the 2012 Presidential Debate,” Mr Ephson said.
Mr Ephson said to the best of his knowledge, Dr Nduom has been reasonable “because the people who his company owe will raise hell if he contests."
He has predicted that Bridgette Dzorgbenuku, Dr Nduom's running mate in the 2016 polls, will pick nomination forms to contest the 2020 presidential polls on the ticket of the PPP.
Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom run for president in 2016