NDC running mate: Rawlings loyalists lobby Mahama to choose Zanetor

Those who support Rawlings urge Mahama to pick Zanetor as the NDC’s running partner.

Die-hard supporters of the late Jerry John Rawlings, the man who founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), have stepped up their demands that John Dramani Mahama, the NDC’s nominee for the 2024 general elections, pick Dr. Zanetor Rawlings, the party’s first daughter, as his running mate.

A practicing physician, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings (45), is now serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Greater Accra Region’s Korle Klottey seat. She earned a second term on 7 December 2020 after being elected as a member of parliament on 7 December 2016.

During the recent NDC presidential and parliamentary primaries held on Saturday 13 May 2023, she secured the mandate of constituency executives to contest the Korle Klottey seat for a third time.

Contention of her supporter

According to sources familiar with their activities, the long-standing NDC members who are advocating for Miss Rawlings assert that the choice of Zanetor will electrify the NDC base and restore the alleged love the Ghanaian people had for his father and the party he founded to the NDC 2024 ticket.

The obstinate NDC party members contend that Ms. Zanetor Rawlings, if chosen to work alongside John Mahama, will be the ideal choice to take over as the leader of the political organization his father created and presided over until he resigned as President on January 7, 2001. He passed away on November 12, 2020.

However, her nomination would be fiercely resisted by many Mahama loyalist who do not see the younger Rawlings as “one of us.” Indeed, the Mahama camp was accused of supporting one of Ms Rawlings’ challengers in the May primaries.

Making Ms. Rawlings her running mate for 2024 would put her in a prime position to succeed John Mahama as the NDC’s leader for the 2028 election, whether it be as the opposition or the dominant party.

Other potential running mates

As of now, names like Mr. Sam Jonah, a business tycoon and the current chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region, have surfaced as potential candidates for the NDC’s running mate position. Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Mr. John Mahama’s running mate for the 2020 general elections, has also been mentioned. Miss Zanetor Rawlings increases the pool of potential running mates for John Dramani Mahama, the NDC leader.

Profile of Zanetor

Miss Zanetor comes from a prominent and, arguably, contentious political family because her father, Jerry John Rawlings, was the first President of the 4th Republic and the longest-serving head of state in Ghana. Both the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the NDC were founded by her mother, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.

Born in Ghana, Zanetor Rawlings attended North Ridge Lyceum and Achimota School for her foundational education. In 1995, she continued on to Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast. She had her postsecondary training at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where she earned a medical degree.

In addition to practicing general medicine, she began a career in politics in 2016 by running in the NDC party’s primaries to represent the Korle Klottey constituency as a legislator. Her father founded the party. The three children of Zanetor.

Source: Mynewsghana.com