Attacking NDC running mate is politically suicidal-Prof Gyampoh

 

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will be committing political suicide if allows its bigwigs and foot soldiers to attack the personality rather than the track record of Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) running mate.

According to Prof Ransford Gyampoh, a senior political science lecturer of the University of Ghana, the party risked alienating women groups who could interpret personal attacks on Prof Opoku-Agyeman as an attack on womanhood.

Hours after the NDC announced the former Education Minister in the Mahama administration as its Vice-Presidential candidate for the December 7 elections, the NPP Director of Communications, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, congratulated her, but also gave her a dose of what awaits the NPP’s political opponents.

He took an indirect shot at the former President, saying his choice of did not reflect that he took Ghanaians serious.

That statement and many others on Facebook seem to have caught the attention of Prof Gyampoh, who has urged the NPP to tone down on the personality attacks.

“NPP foot soldiers must not fall for the trap of committing political suicide by saying nasty things that will be interpreted as an attack on womanhood. If you do so, and it hurts a critical mass of women, what you have done may come back to haunt your political fortunes.

“Any serious critic of the NDC running mate must be based on issues and her track record, “he said.

In the race to the 2004 elections, the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) Presidential candidate, George Opesika Aggudey, triggered a national outrage when he said women were for comfort while responding to questions on the role of women during a presidential debate.

That incident, Prof Gyampoh said, should be a red flag for politicians that want to attack Prof Opoku-Agyemang.

“If they want to learn from the backlash that George Opesika Aggudey suffered some time back, then they should take that lesson and ensure that their critic of the candidature of Naana Opoku-Agyeman is fair and based on only on issues,” he told Joy News.

With some social media feminists and other gender groups micro-scoping anti-feminine comments directed at the NDC running mate, he counselled the party to beware of its utterances.

“Criticism of her selection in my view must be based only on issues. You commit a needless political suicide and a display of political immaturity by simply running her down.

“If you do this and a critical mass of people decide and counteract by forming a constituency in support of their own, then your electoral fortunes will experience a telling effect,” he said.

Other female running mates of the past

Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang is, however, the eighth woman to run on the ticket of a political party in Ghana as a Vice-Presidential candidate.

In 1992, Naa Afarley Sackeyfio became the first woman to be selected as a Vice-Presidential candidate in Ghana, joining the Presidential bid of the National Independent Party’s (NIP), Kwabena Darko.

The Peoples National Convention (PNC) followed suit 16 years later (2008) with Petra Amegashie as Dr Edward Mahama’s running mate. In the same year, Patricia Ameku joined forces with the Democratic Freedom Party’s (DFP), Emmanuel Ansah Antwi to contest that year’s elections.

In 2012, Cherita Frimpomaa Kumankuma ran with Foster Abu Sakara on the ticket of the CPP.

The Peoples National Convention ( PNC) under Hassan Ayariga partnered with Helen Senorita Dzatugbe Matervi in the 2012 polls, while the Progressive People Party’s (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom ,found competence in Eva Lokko(now late) as a running mate also in the same year.

In 2016, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom made another female choice for a running mate by choosing Brigitte Dzogbenuku.

However, the first woman to contest as a Presidential candidate was Former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.