Director of Communications and Spokesperson for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia's campaign, Denis Miracle Aboagye, has emphasised the necessity of selecting a “politically correct” running mate for the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer.

Speaking on PM Express on JoyNews, he noted that the running mate of Dr Bawumia must bring substantial votes to the table and effectively complement Bawumia's governance efforts once in power.

“These are the two key or critical ingredients and these two things are what is driving him (Bawumia). Like I said, this person must be politically correct.

"This simply means that we are going out there to go and look for votes, we need to win before we govern. So this person must be one that will bring in the votes to support all the votes that Dr Bawumia himself will be bringing.”

“Eventually, when we win the elections based on the votes that we have collectively brought into the polls, we need to govern.

"In governance, Dr. Bawumia has articulated several policies and action points for various sectors and he would need a person who would complement his efforts and give him the right support to be able to implement and execute this vision,” Mr Aboagye said.

Taking into consideration these key factors, the Bawumia campaign spokesperson said that the NPP flagbearer was certain of who to select as running mate before he decided to run as flagbearer.

Mr Aboagye stated that he is only following the NPP’s rules which has been that the running mate should be nominated in consultation with the National Council who would ratify approval otherwise. 

“But he (Dr Bawumia), as a person, has been clear in his mind who he is nominating, long before he was elected on November 4th during the presidential primaries. What is left now is for the time to be due,” Mr Aboagye said.

His comments come after a National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) survey revealed that Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh is widely preferred among party members to be the running mate to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia.

The survey engaged 5,116 NPP delegates nationwide, including national, regional, constituency, and polling station executives.

According to the study, Dr Opoku Prempeh secured 76.2% of the responses from executives polled.

• Read More: Opoku Prempeh leads in NPP’s choice of running mate for Bawumia – NIB Survey

Following him was the Minister of Education and MP for the Bosomtwe, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, who garnered 10.16%.

Other notable personalities the delegates consider for the role include Apostle Opoku Onyinah, former Chairman of the Pentecost Church-Ghana, and Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Agriculture and MP for Abetifi Constituency.

As Dr Bawumia faces the challenge of choosing among some bigwigs of the party, the survey reveals that there was a strong consensus that the running mate should be selected from the Ashanti Region.