The Clever Trap Behind Mosquito’s Sweet Talk
By Prince Ahenkorah
He says he wants to protect party executives who worked hard for the NDC’s 2024 landslide. But inside sources say the national chairman is quietly building a political army for himself.
Johnson Asiedu Nketiah is on the road. The NDC national chairman is crisscrossing the country on what his office calls a “thank you” tour. He hugs branch executives. He praises constituency chairmen. He tells them they have done a beautiful job.
Then he drops the proposal: Do not change them. Keep them in office. “The work you did was beautiful,” Nketiah told cheering crowds. “So left to me alone, our party should give way for you to be retained.”
On the surface, it sounds like loyalty. Below the surface, party insiders whisper a different story. The chairman popularly known as Mosquito is not just thanking the base. He is hatching a personal agenda the NDC flagbearer slot.
Here is the calculation, according to multiple party sources who spoke to The New Republic, If Nketiah successfully pushes for the retention of all current branch and constituency executives, those executives will owe him. When the flagbearer race opens, they will return the favour with their votes.
But that is not all. The same retained executives will also protect sitting MPs who fear losing their seats to newcomers. And those MPs, in turn, will back Nketiah’s presidential ambition.
“He is trying to kill two birds with one stone,” a senior NDC official said on condition of anonymity.
While touring, Nketiah has also allegedly been telling party members that he is not responsible for their unemployment. Instead, he points fingers at President John Mahama and his appointees.
“I would have found you a job if I were in the position to do so,” the chairman has reportedly told gatherings.
The message is subtle but unmistakable: He is not yet the president but he could be.
Not everyone is cheering. Other ambitious party members who planned to contest various positions from branch level to constituency now see their paths blocked. If Nketiah’s proposal is adopted, incumbents stay. Newcomers wait.
“This is a complete hijack of the party,” one aspiring constituency chairman told The New Republic. “Where is the democracy?” Lurking in the shadows is a court case that could shatter Nketiah’s entire script.
Private legal practitioner Oliver Barker‑Vormawor is challenging the current delegates system of both the NDC and NPP before the Supreme Court. If he wins, every registered member of the party not just selected delegates will vote in internal elections.
That would scatter the chairman’s carefully woven web.
In his own words: “This is the time we have not been able to give these branch people anything to hold on to. So as they have not received anything, the small position they are holding onto we should protect for them.”
He added: “If you help branch to protect their seats, when it gets to your turn they can also help you to retain yours.”
The promise of reciprocity could not be clearer.
Asiedu Nketiah is doing what seasoned political operators do building loyalty before the battle. But his rivals are watching. The courts are deliberating. And President Mahama’s appointees may not appreciate being publicly blamed for the chairman’s political chess game.
The thank you tour continues. But the real thanks, Mosquito hopes, will come later – at the ballot box.