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John Dramani Mahama, a former president and National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, has noted that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been gaining ground in the Volta Region based on the outcomes of the last two general elections.
John Mahama claims that in order to persuade and win over supporters in the NDC heartland, the NPP has used vote-buying and propanga tactics.
On the first day of his tour of the Volta Region, Mr. Mahama spoke at Juapong in the North Tongu constituency. He acknowledged that the NPP’s support has increased over the past two elections, as the party received 14.1% of the vote in the general elections of 2020, compared to the NDC’s 84.8%.
The NPP used to receive single digits of votes in the Volta Region during national elections, he claimed, but that was not the case under the late former President Jerry Rawlings.
“In Rawlings’s time, NPP used to get single digits in the Volta Region. In 2020 they have climbed and climbed and in 2020 they got 14% and so, it means that they are making inroads into the Volta Region.
“Now what do they do, they use propaganda and they come and tell you that you vote for NDC all the time and NDC has done nothing for you. And so even though we can see what we have gotten under NDC, the propaganda is so strong that we believe that NDC has done nothing”, he said.
The claim that previous NDC governments abandoned the Volta region was refuted by Mr. Mahama, who further clarified that the initiatives the NDC started and finished in the region were designed to benefit future generations.
He continued, mentioning the collapse of Juapong Textiles, which he said was resurrected by the NDC administration, the Eastern Corridor Road, the Juapong – Abutia Road, and other projects that the NPP neglected to finish while the NDC was in power.
“They will come with propaganda and say NDC has done nothing for you. You see, NDC invests in things that would benefit the people, their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren.
“When we provide electricity, you are not the only one going to enjoy it, your children will enjoy it. When we build infrastructure in your schools, you are not the only one going to enjoy it, it will be there for your grandchildren, and when they are sick they will go to the hospitals. When we provide drinking water, you are not the only one going to drink that water, your children will drink that water”, he said.
According to Mr. Mahama, the NPP has used vote-buying to support its propaganda in an effort to sway a small portion of the people to support its candidates for president and parliament.
In order to assist him in reviving the nation’s faltering economy and leading Ghana to the “promised land,” he asked the public to be vigilant, accept the money being distributed, and cast their ballots for their chosen NDC candidates on December 7.
“What the NPP does is, they will come and choose amongst you, 1,2,3,4 people, and when they steal the money, they will give them some. And so they also will come and give you 200, 200, 200, 200 and you will say since we started elections nobody has come to give me 200 cedis so I will vote for NPP.
“But you forget the more lasting development, the more lasting benefit, that benefits not only your community but generations yet unborn, you forget that it was provided by the NDC.
“They are going to come with the money, and I am telling the people of Juapong, of North Tongu, when the money comes, collect it and chop it, because the money is your own money, and when you go to the ballot box, vote for the truth”, Mahama stated.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
