Even as his reputation as an incorruptible man has led to many party faithful being swayed into supporting his bid to lead the party, some executives of the party in the Prestea Huni Valley Constituency have justified their support for him because of another virtue.

Mr Oluman Bayor, Constituency Treasurer, Mr Emmanuel Boateng, Secretary and Hajia Memuna, Women Organizer on Saturday, led NDC executives at Prestea to tout the respected Nadowli/Kaleo MP as a great unifier within the party.

“Many people take for granted that today we have our charismatic Founder, Jerry Rawlings who used to be estranged from the party, back into it. President Rawlings’ return was through the instrumentality of Mr Bagbin,” Oluman Bayor said to an applause at a meeting of party executives in Prestea.

According to him, the Founder had at a point in time become so neglected and disrespected that he eventually decided to abandon his own party and keep to himself.However, he said Mr Bagbin refused to allow “the party’s most precious asset,” to slip out of the party, as he pursued many channels to bring the founder back.

“I can’t say that Mr Bagbin did it alone, we know he did it in concert with other elders of the party, but he was a leading member of that reconciliatory effort,” Oluman Bayor said.He said the success of that endeavour, which culminated in President Rawlings returning to his roots, was evidenced that Mr Bagbin was a unifier and therefore deserved to lead the party.

His address at the Prestea meeting received thunderous applause by some party executives who had met there from around the Western region for a meeting.Apparently, the executives, many of whom were from various jurisdictions, had actually canvassed for support for him in an unplanned door to door campaign before meeting at Prestea for the deliberation which centred around re-canvassing for 2020 after the 2016 defeat.

Among the executives who declared support for Mr Bagbin was Mr Emmanuel Boateng, Prestea Borla Site Secretary, who affirmed Oluman Bayor’s point that the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament was indeed a unifier.“It is not only President Rawlings that Mr Bagbin attracted back into the party; most elders of the party are today back with us because he sued for peace. Just a few months ago, the party’s Council of Elders had stopped meeting because of neglect and disrespect.

“But thanks to Mr Bagbin, the Council of Elders is now back in place and has since been meeting to discuss the interest of the party.”Like Oluman Bayor Mr Boateng pointed out the peace efforts of Mr Bagbin as reason enough for the NDC to trust him with its leadership and that, “the right time to make him leader is now.”

 Speaking in an interview after the meeting, Hajia Memuna, another party executive, hoped the NDC would elect Mr Bagbin as Flagbearer and that once he becomes leader, he would continue to reconcile the party’s estranged leaders to it.

“For instance, we all miss our mother, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings. I hope that when Mr Bagbin becomes leader, he will prioritise the reconciliation of Nana Konadu back to the NDC too.”