Director of Communications for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign team, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is likely to face intense internal competition as succession politics begin to emerge within the party.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story programme on Monday, May 25, Aboagye said the NDC is entering a new phase as it prepares for a future beyond President John Dramani Mahama’s leadership.

According to him, the party had previously managed internal disagreements because it always had a dominant leader around whom members united, from the era of former President Jerry John Rawlings to late President John Evans Atta Mills and later President Mahama.

He argued that even disputes involving former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings did not significantly destabilise the party because there was still a recognised leader.

Aboagye, however, said the current situation is different because President Mahama is widely expected to be serving his final term.

“In the next few months, nobody in the NDC would really care much about what President Mahama says because, as it happens in every democracy, a President who is exiting and will not contest again becomes a lame duck,” he said.

He stated that the NDC must accept the political realities ahead and allow internal competition to evolve naturally or risk experiencing what he described as the fiercest internal contest in the party’s history.

Aboagye also claimed signs of rivalry are already becoming visible within the governing party.

“We are already seeing party members exchange shots, and the real contest has not even started yet,” he added.

He further criticised the NDC, saying he does not sympathise with the party’s internal challenges.

Touching on the New Patriotic Party’s future electoral prospects, Aboagye said the NPP’s chances in the next election would depend largely on the ideas and vision Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia presents to Ghanaians rather than developments within the NDC.