Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, has shut down early talk of a presidential bid, saying such a conversation is premature and risks derailing the mandate Ghanaians gave President John Mahama.
Speaking just a day after addressing Parliament presenting the 2027 budget statement, Dr. Forson said any discussion of presidential ambition at this stage is unnecessary and counterproductive.
“It’s too early to have this conversation. I don’t think it is important at this stage,” he said. “This is a government that was elected on the back of a crisis. We are in office, we have a mandate, and we have to focus on the job”, he said in an interview on TV3’s New Day programme.
He urged that the debate be shelved altogether, warning it could erode public confidence and divert attention from governance.
“Please, that conversation we must not have it at this stage,” he said. “It will put the country off. It will be a distraction to the mandate of His Excellency President Mahama, so we have a responsibility to ensure we deliver on that mandate.”
On his reduced presence in the constituency
Dr. Forson, who has been at the centre of Ghana’s economic recovery programme, also addressed concerns that he has not been as visible in his constituency as he once was, explaining that his demanding national duties account for his reduced availability.
“They know that I am not one of the MPs who are always not available,” he said. “They know that I have always been available for them. If today I am not available, it is because I am on a national assignment — of which they are part.”
He acknowledged the change in his routine but said his constituents appreciate the reason behind it.
“I have not been as regular as I used to be, but they understand,” he said. “From next year, when we are out of the woods, I will be more regular.”
Focus on delivery
The question by Rowland Walker comes amid growing public speculation about possible contenders for the 2028 presidential race where in some analysis he has been paired with New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
And in the NDC yet to commence race, Dr Forson has been put alongside the likes of Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, Haruna Iddrisu, Julius Debrah and Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang
But the Finance Minister insists the priority now is economic consolidation, not political positioning — a job, he suggested, that will allow him more time at home once the country is firmly “out of the woods.”
By Gifty Boateng