The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Council of Elders has ordered party members to stop all early presidential campaigning and rally behind President John Mahama’s government instead.
The directive followed a meeting between the Council and Mahama on Friday, where the two sides discussed party unity, internal discipline and support for the administration’s “Resetting Agenda.” In a statement afterward, the elders said they were worried by reports of individuals and groups jostling early for the party’s next presidential nomination, a scramble they warned could split the governing party.
The Council said the NDC’s first duty was to deliver on its mandate and tackle national problems, not to fight over who succeeds Mahama. It urged every member to channel energy and resources into the government’s work.
Citing Article 42 of the party’s constitution, the Council noted that only the National Executive Committee (NEC) may set the timetable and rules for presidential primaries. No person, group or bloc, it said, had been cleared to run any form of presidential campaign until the party formally opens that process.
The elders therefore told all members engaged in campaign activity, from endorsements to mobilisation, to stop at once.
The intervention raises the stakes after weeks of similar appeals. NDC Deputy General Secretary Mustapha Gbande made a comparable call in May, and speculation has swirled around figures including National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, whose “Thank You Tour” some read as early positioning, and Chief of Staff Julius Debrah. The party returned to power barely a year and a half ago.
The Council promised that succession would be settled in due course. “The time for internal contests will come,” it said, urging members to focus for now on governing.
