I haven’t yet selected my running mate – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama says he will consult the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)  in choosing his running mate for 2016 elections.

There have been speculations the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah Arthur will be retained after he picked up nomination forms on behalf of the President.

The President however dispelled the rumours in an interview on State-owned Unniq FM on Monday, saying the party has to first endorse him [Mahama] before he will be given the mandate to select his running mate.“You can’t have a running mate when you are not yet a candidate and so I cannot be selecting a running mate when I have not gotten the endorsement of my party” he explained.

“You have to be endorsed first and the party must give you the mandate and based on the mandate, you announce who your running mate would be and there is a procedure for doing that. It is done in consultation with the party and so I am not going to second guess or prejudice that procedure. Right now; we are focusing on selecting a candidate and once that is done, then we will look at that.”

He is also optimistic his government’s achievements are enough to earn him another term in office.

“The good people of Ghana are discerning and they will make a choice come December 7. We have worked sufficiently to earn an endorsement of the good people of Ghana to continue the very useful programmes that we have began; and I am confident that Ghanaians are discerning and they can see that the work that we have done is worthy of giving us a second term. And so I expect that we will win a good victory one touch by the grace of God. It is God’s will, it is God who decides who the leaders are but I am confident that God is on our side.”

Amissah Arthur was sworn in as Vice President on  August 6 2012, after he was vetted by Parliament.

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