Julius Debrah, Ghana’s Chief of Staff, has not said a word publicly about running for the National Democratic Congress’s 2028 presidential ticket. That silence has done little to slow the speculation building around him if anything, it has fed it.

Debrah assumed the Chief of Staff role on January 7, 2025, following President John Mahama’s return to power, marking his second stint in the position after first serving as Chief of Staff between 2015 and 2017 during Mahama’s first term.

In between, he held office as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Eastern Regional Minister, and Greater Accra Regional Minister a résumé that gives him a rare vantage point across both party organization and the machinery of government.

That combination has fuelled a steady stream of endorsements over the past year. The Youth for Presidency-NDC, a youth advocacy group within the party, has officially named him its preferred 2028 candidate. Citizen Eye Ghana, a civil society organization, concluded after months of stakeholder consultations that Debrah offers the party regional balance, governance experience, and unifying personal qualities that make him, in its assessment, the most strategic choice available.

Former Kumbungu MP Ras Mubarak has publicly backed him, and CITEG, another advocacy group, went further still, declaring him the only candidate capable of uniting the NDC and protecting Mahama’s legacy without risking a fractured primary. Even Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi weighed in from the pulpit last year, telling his congregation that Debrah was “divinely chosen to lead” the party after 2028.

The NDC’s own institutional gatekeepers have been more circumspect. The party’s Council of Elders has stepped into the conversation to remind members that the NDC Constitution specifically Article 42 vests sole authority for setting the timetable and guidelines of a presidential primary in the National Executive Committee, and that no individual is authorized to campaign until that process is formally activated. It’s a reminder that reads less as a rebuke of Debrah specifically than as an attempt to keep an increasingly loud conversation from getting ahead of the party’s own rules.

For his part, Debrah has offered nothing on the record about his ambitions. Supporters read the silence as discipline rather than disinterest the posture, they argue, of a man who already knows where he’s headed and sees no need to campaign for a race that hasn’t formally begun. At 59, and as the operational hand behind the Mahama government’s day-to-day coordination a role widely regarded as the backbone of the presidency he is positioned, whether by design or by circumstance, at the centre of one of the more consequential succession conversations in the NDC’s recent history.

Whether that positioning turns into an actual candidacy will depend less on the volume of endorsements than on when and how the NDC’s National Executive Committee opens the primary process it alone controls.

Mustapha Bature Sallama.
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal investigation and Intelligence Analysis.

International Conflict Management and Peace Building.USIP

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References / Sources
ModernGhana “From Chief of Staff to Presidential Contender: Julius Debrah Emerges as Frontrunner in Ghana’s 2028 NDC Flag bearer Race” https://www.modernghana.com/news/1502524/from-chief-of-staff-to-presidential-contender.html

Asaase Radio ”Citizen Eye Ghana – Julius Debrah emerges as most strategic choice for NDC’s 2028 presidential candidate” https://asaaseradio.com/citizen-eye-ghana-julius-debrah-emerges-as-most-strategic-choice-for-ndcs-2028-presidential-candidate/

MyJoyOnline “The verdict of intelligence: Why Julius Debrah is the only candidate who can unite NDC” https://www.myjoyonline.com/the-verdict-of-intelligence-why-julius-debrah-is-the-only-candidate-who-can-unite-ndc/

Metro TV Online “Ras Mubarak Endorses Julius Debrah for NDC 2028 Flagbearer” https://metrotvonline.com/ras-mubarak-endorses-julius-debrah-for-ndc-2028-flagbearer-slot/

GhanaWeb “‘Whether NDC likes it or not, Julius Debrah will lead after President Mahama’ – Prophet Badu Kobi” https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Whether-NDC-likes-it-or-not-Julius-Debrah-will-lead-after-President-Mahama-Prophet-Badu-Kobi-1973021

ModernGhana “From Party Builder to Presidential Contender: The Calculated Rise of Julius Debrah” https://www.modernghana.com/news/1488055/from-party-builder-to-presidential-contender.html