The Ghanaians National Alliance, a public advocacy group, has appealed to all independent candidates to come together and elect one leader to contest the 2024 General Election.
The group made the case that the independent candidates did not have the individual numbers to break the duopoly of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Akwa Obodai, Public Relations Officer for the Ghanaians National Alliance, and the Osagyefo Youth Movement, said the group needed “alternative consensus candidate” to appeal to voters.
He said under the current political regime, it would be difficult for the independent candidates seeking to contest the upcoming presidential elections to pull the required the number of votes to become President.
Mr Obodai said although evidence abound on the failures of the NPP and the NDC in meeting the expectations of voters, the two parties continued to pull numbers due to the absence of a formidable third force to break the jinx.
“The proposal is that we will all come together and go for congress and elect one leader who will represent all the independent candidates,” he said.
The quest for a “third force” political party to break the dominance of the NPP and the NDC since 1992 has been dominant in the political discourse, with some political analysts suggesting the unification of “smaller” political parties as among the solutions.
Recently, Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen’s Movement for Change (M4C) formed an alliance with some political entities and individuals to contest the 2024 presidential election.
The alliance, named the ‘Alliance for Revolutionary Change’ (ARC) is expected to mobilise Ghanaians from across the country, irrespective of their religious, political, and ethnic affiliations, in a grand coalition to elect the first independent candidate as the President of the Republic of Ghana.
Mr Obodai said although the ARC was a positive step, the group did not have “enough numbers” to change the voting cycle.
“We need alternative consensus candidate,” he said and added that the Group would engage all the independent candidates to join the proposed union.
“If the independent candidates are contesting in the interest of the country and not their individual interests, then they must take a firm decision and come together to rescue the country from the NPP and the NDC,” Mr Obodai said.
GNA