‘Let’s Focus on the Job’ — Opoku-Agyemang Brushes Aside 2028 NDC Flagbearer Speculation

Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has sought to shut down growing speculation over who will lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) into the 2028 general election, arguing that an early succession contest risks distracting the governing party from delivering on its mandate.

Speaking on The KSM Show on Friday, August 7, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang declined to be drawn into discussions about whether she would seek the NDC presidential nomination after President John Dramani Mahama’s current term.

Instead, the Vice President framed the party’s prospects in the next election as being fundamentally tied to the performance of the Mahama administration.

“Whether we are going or coming depends on the work we are doing. It depends on the support we are giving our president who’s leading the charge.”

Her intervention comes as attention within Ghana’s political landscape gradually shifts towards the question of succession in the NDC, with President Mahama constitutionally unable to seek another term after 2028.

For Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, however, beginning that contest less than two years into the administration could weaken the government’s focus and potentially undermine the political capital it secured at the 2024 polls.

“If we are already going left or right, and centre and back, and it’s not even time, I think it’s a betrayal of the cause of the people, and I don’t think it is right,” she said.

“Please help us to fulfil the dreams of this beautiful country. Let’s focus on getting the job done.”

Performance before succession

The Vice President’s remarks highlight what could become an increasingly difficult balancing act for the NDC as the Mahama administration progresses: governing effectively while managing the inevitable competition over who succeeds the President.

The party’s 2024 victory returned it to power after eight years in opposition. Prof. Opoku-Agyemang argued that the result was built on years of political organisation and campaigning and should now be translated into tangible improvements in the lives of Ghanaians.

Her position suggests that the government’s economic and social record — rather than the strength of individual presidential hopefuls — will ultimately determine how competitive the NDC is in 2028.

That calculation is particularly significant because the next NDC flagbearer will not have the advantage of running as an incumbent president. Whoever emerges will instead have to defend the Mahama administration’s record while simultaneously establishing an independent political identity.

Succession question will not disappear

Despite the Vice President’s attempt to cool the conversation, succession politics is unlikely to disappear entirely.

President Mahama’s inability to contest again means the NDC is heading towards its first genuinely open presidential nomination contest in years. That creates incentives for potential candidates and their supporters to begin building networks long before the party formally opens nominations.

The political risk is that such manoeuvring could develop into competing camps within government and the wider party, particularly if ministers and senior officials become associated with prospective candidates.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s comments therefore amount to more than a refusal to confirm or deny her own ambitions. They represent a call for discipline within the governing party at a time when attention could increasingly turn towards 2028.

For the Vice President, the immediate political calculation appears straightforward: a successful administration gives whoever eventually leads the NDC a stronger platform from which to campaign.

A government distracted by an early succession battle could produce precisely the opposite.

For now, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s message to the NDC is that the road to 2028 runs through the government’s performance today.