Sylvester Mensah to Contest NDC Flagbearership Position

By Justice Dzido On Aug 4, 2018

Former CEO of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Sylvester Mensah has officially declared his intention to contest the Flagbearership of the opposition NDC in its upcoming elections to lead the party into the 2020 general elections.

Sylvester Mensah in a letter to the NDC party officially declaring his intention stated that;

“Having engaged in a nationwide consultation on the future leadership of our dear party, I am able to confirm that I will be contesting for the vacant position of flagbearer of our dear party the National Democratic Congress” .

The official declaration by Sylvester Mensah comes after the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the opposition NDC gave the go-ahead for the campaigning for flagbearer hopefuls of the party ahead of the 2020 elections.

The General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has therefore directed that all hopefuls must first inform the party of their intention to contest the slot before campaigning.

Meanwhile, some NDC stalwarts have also declared their readiness to lead the party into the polls, including Second Deputy Speaker and MP for Nadowli-Kaleo, Alban Bagbin, former minister of Trade and Industry, Ekow Spio-Garbrah, and Professor Joshua Alabi immediate past Vice Chancellor of UPSA.

Also, John Mahama, former President of Ghana on May 19, 2018, declared his intention ahead of the upcoming NDC internal election to elect a flagbearer to represent the party in the 2020 general elections.

In a Facebook post on May 19, 2018, John Mahama said, “To you, the teeming supporters and sympathizers calling and requesting me to declare my intentions for the future, I wish to assure you today, that as a servant-leader, I have listened to your calls and reflected. I will not disappoint you even as we await the publication of the party’s guidelines for selecting a new leader”.

About Sylvester Mensah

Sylvester A. Mensah was the Chief Executive of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority in former President John Mahama administration with oversight responsibility over the Mutual Health Insurance Schemes nationwide, a position he occupied for many years.

The son of the late Mr Lovelace P. C. Mensah – a career diplomat and Mrs Christiana P. E. Mensah, Sylvester Mensah was born into a family of 9. Among his resourceful siblings is Gayheart E. Mensah, formerly of Ghanaian Times Corporation, Graphic Communications Group, Barclays Bank – Ghana Limited, Unilever Ghana Limited and now Corporate Affairs Manager of Tullow Oil Ghana.

Mr. Sylvester Mensah believes life becomes fulfilling when one avails himself to the service of society by taking on challenging both on social, economic and political ventures, and delivering without losing focus on follower-ship, companionship and family. His goal has been to leave a pleasantly indelible mark wherever he found himself.

His early ambition was to become a medical doctor led him to read science at the GCE ‘O’level at the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Boys Secondary School in Accra, before a change of heart led him into business studies at the GCE ‘A’ level at the Labone Secondary School in Accra.

Sylvester’s active political career came to lime light when he became the first Regional Youth Organiser for the Greater Accra Region of his political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 1992.

For over three terms, stretching seven years, he was the Greater Accra Regional Secretary for the NDC political party, until he resigned his position in September 2001 to pursue post graduate studies. Mr. Mensah’s political life assumed greater heights when he was voted Member of Parliament for the Dede-Kotopon Constituency from 1996 to 2001. Though he hasn’t been on the political front-line for a while as he leads the NHIA as a technocrat, he leaves the door open for future active and front-line political engagements.

Mr Mensah who predictably worked indefatigably for his Constituency, trusts that his contribution to the unity of the people he represented as well as the level of development during his time is unprecedented; “I’m sure that the Constituency today will count me as one of the successful MPs of the constituency.”