A Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Mr. Stephen Ahiawador has advised Nana Akufo-Addo against selecting an Akan as his running mate. He said the prevailing perception about the New Patriotic Party made imprudent to select an Akan as running mate the party’s flag bearer. The NPP is widely believed to be an Akan party. Mr. Ahiawador was speaking to Joy News on the relevance of a vice presidential candidate in terms garnering votes for the political parties. He stressed the need for Nana Akufo-Addo to select his running mate from elsewhere who would help garner votes for the party. According to him, ethnicity was a very important factor to consider in selecting a vice presidential candidate given the peculiar circumstances in Ghana. On the qualities of running mates for the various presidential candidates, he said the person needed to be committed to the ideals of the party. “The person must be a faithful and known member of the party and know what the party stands for and intends to achieve when it acquires power” he added. The political scientists told Joy FM’s Evans Mensah that a potential running mate must be a knowledgeable person in the art of governance. He or she must be an “able and capable material or person who can step into the [shoes] of the president if he is taken ill”, he stressed. Mr. Ahiawador said the number of women in the country made it necessary for the flag bearers of the parties to consider gender in their calculations. He however cautioned against selecting women without critically assessing the capabilities of such women. He advised all presidential candidates to do their permutations well and select people that will be electoral assets to them in the December polls.