The former minister of education Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has said the decision to run against John Evans Atta Mills for the flagbearership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2006 may have been an error.
According to Spio-Garbrah, Professor Mills assured him that if at any point in time he (Mills) was unable to continue the “agenda” of the NDC, he would support him (Spio-Garbrah).
“It may have been a mistake. I did that partly because my own very good friend Professor Mills had been telling me, for about five years, ‘Ekwow, you are the only one I support.’ And unfortunately, he also said that to a number of people who then used that against me with him.
“And so, even though the jury is out until the day of my departure from Earth, I think that decision may have been an error just because I didn’t need to put myself in a conflicting situation with a very good friend. But fortunately, President Mills did not find [it] offensive at all …”
Watch out for other faces
In December 2006, the then Professor John Evans Atta Mills polled 1,362 votes (81.4% of the total votes cast) to win the NDC flagbearership for Election 2008.
Spio-Garbrah won 146 votes (representing 8.7% of the total), Mahama Iddrisu won 137 votes (or 8.2%) and Eddie Annan had 28 votes (1.7%).
On whether he will ever run again for the NDC flagbearership, Spio-Grabrah said: “Some people believe I can be a good president … The jury is out. I think now there are a lot of wonderful people already putting themselves up but the party [NDC] has not really invited any contestants to show their faces.
“We’ve seen some pictures of others who are likely to contest, so we will watch out for them …
“My view is that, whereas in the past I have listened to the advice of a small group of people to put myself forward, I would rather ask for more rigorous analysis to see, because there is no point in running [for flagbearer] if you know you are not going to win. And if there is a better person who can do the job better than you, why not?”
Support for Mahama
“There is a possibility [I may support Mahama]. He is certainly one of the best but we need a discussion and debate as to what has led to the losses, where he [Mahama] loses about 3% to 4%,” Spio-Garbrah said in a Personality Profile interview on Joy News.
He added, “So that conversation is an internal conversation and I want to be part of the conversation. So that we understand what took place and what we must remedy to make sure that if he is the candidate he wins.
“I wouldn’t like him to lose: he is a very good friend of mine.”
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