The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has dismissed suggestions that his party and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are alike.
“The NDC cannot be reckless, contemptuous and wasteful as the NPP because we have been in power, and our record is there for all to see, we do not claim perfection, but we in the NDC can never be like the NPP.
“We cannot be and are not as reckless and contemptuous of Ghanaians as the NPP has been, we have never been and will not be as wasteful, ostentatious, and as imprudent as the NPP has been,” the former president pointed out.
Speaking in an address at the NDC’s European Chapters Conference in Amsterdam, Holland, former President Mahama said NDC had no intention of taking the mandate of the citizenry for granted if the party wins the 2024 elections.
According to him, contesting Election 2024 against an incumbent government that had proven that it was prepared to shed the blood of its citizens to hang on to power, as they amply showed at the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency in Greater Accra Region by-election, the 2020 elections and Electoral Commission whose neutrality in electoral contests were questionable was a tedious task but surmountable.
Former President Mahama tasked members, supporters, faithful, well-wishers and sympathisers of the party to immediately get off their marks and convince Ghanaians NDC was prepared to govern in addition to its superior record to that of NPP.
He identified that one of the reasons the party lost the 2020 general election was that it left some loose ends untied but Ghanaians had seen the difference and believe in the party’s message, which in 2020 was conveyed in the NDC People’s Manifesto.
“Our 2020 election comeback, raising the number of our seats from 106 to 137 and increasing our votes by almost 1.4 million, resulted from commitment, dedication, determination and hard work of all of us and the support and assistance of the citizenry.
“As leader and flagbearer, I offer my firm pledge and assurance to work with leadership of the party, represented here by General Secretary, to build formidable team, deploy strategies and mechanisms to ensure we protect the votes of the teeming mass of Ghanaians.
“Those Ghanaians are yearning to be freed from shackles of poverty and hardships inflicted by the reckless Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration and most Ghanaians are ready to work with us to build the Ghana we all want together,” the former president revealed.
Former President Mahama likened the 2024 elections to peaceful and democratic revolution which would free the country and citizens from clutches of misrule from mediocre, reckless, and incompetent government.
