Sir Sam Jonah tipped to be John Mahama’s running mate

The name of the Ghanaian business mogul and current chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Sir Sam Jonah, has come up as a front-runner for the nomination to stand as John Dramani Mahama’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

The National Democratic Congress last month elected the former president as its flagbearer once again, as well as most of the NDC’s parliamentary candidates who will stand in next year’s general election.

The one big slot left is who partners John Mahama. Whoever gets the slot will be given poll position to lead the party beyond 2024, whether the opposition party wins the 2024 election or not.

Elements within the NDC and the Mahama campaign team who spoke to Asaase News are convinced that among the many names being considered by the NDC flagbearer, Sir Sam (aged 73) appears to be one of those highly tipped to get the nod.

This may not go down well with some purists, because Sir Sam is not known as a card-bearing member of the party founded by the late John Jerry Rawlings.

Over the past decade, however, he has grown to become Mahama’s key advisor and a leading facilitator of the NDC leader’s international business network.

Strong business networks

A source close to Sir Sam expressed no surprise about the reports when contacted by Asaase News, adding that in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election, overtures were made to the former chief executive of the now defunct Ashanti Goldfields to run with John Mahama, but Sir Sam politely declined.

But the bond between the two men has grown, with John Mahama’s younger brother Ibrahim, the businessman, playing a strong role in forging the relationship.

Just two weeks ago, the two men (John Mahama and Sam Jonah) were spotted together in South Korea, where Jonah introduced the NDC’s 2024 presidential candidate to his rich network of contacts there.

After winning the 2012 election with Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur as his running mate, Mahama lost the 2016 polls to President Akufo-Addo with a repeat of the 2012 ticket.

Following Amissah-Arthur’s death in 2018, Mahama chose Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as his running mate in the 2020 polls. The pair lost to the New Patriotic Party ticket of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

 

Source: AsaaseRadio