There is intense jostling among New Patriotic Party Members of Parliament as to who will become the running mate to the newly elected flagbearer of the party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

On the first day of sitting following the flagbearership election, there have been talks among MPs from the governing party about his choice with several coalitions forming to back the various names that have emerged.

The names that have emerged so far are Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh; the Minister for Energy, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu and Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.

Some parliamentarians who spoke to JoyNews said Dr Bawumia should not be pressured into selecting a running mate for the 2024 election.

“I don’t have the mandate to determine who becomes the running mate, I think it is the exclusive decision of the flagbearer in consultation with the National Council and that has been the tradition and I want to respect that,” the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh said.

According to him, although all the names that have come up so far are good, he believes the Lord will decide who is selected.

The Lands Minister, Abu Jinapor shared the same sentiment, adding that “….Who the candidate is comfortable with and secondly who can help him, complement the ticket to make his victory much easier than it would have been, and thirdly, whom the candidate prefers. For me, I would support whoever he settles on.”

Another NPP MP said the consensus is that the running mate should be from the Ashanti region.

The Kwadaso MP, Kingsley Nyarko explained that the Ashanti region holds the key to the electoral fortunes of the NPP.

“There are a lot of competent personalities from the region so I don’t think that it is out of place to get someone from there. He [Dr Bawumia] can decide to choose the running mate from any other region but I think that a running mate from the Ashanti region will be a step in the right direction,” he said.