According to former president John Dramani Mahama, the presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7, 2024, are the most important since 1992 and could be the final chance for Ghanaians to once again have faith in the constitutional system.
According to him, Ghana is not immune to the geopolitical unrest in the region brought on by multiple coups d’état allegedly caused by perceived bad governance and corruption that have worsened the living conditions of the populace.
Therefore, Mr. Mahama stated that the NDC must alter the nation’s economic fortunes and offer possibilities to instill hope in constitutional governance when it assumes power again in 2025.
Mr. Mahama delivered his remarks via Zoom during the concluding ceremony of the NDC Lawyers Association’s third annual lawyers conference.
“I must say that election 2024 is going to be the most critical election since 1992 or may be in the history of our party. Because as I said earlier it is the last opportunity for us to restore the faith of our people in constitutional government in our country.”
He continued that “Let us not think that we are immune to what is happening in the sub-region. It cannot be business as usual as I said a little while ago. Any new government that takes over on 2025 7th January cannot do business as usual. We must sit up and do what our people expect of us. We must let them understand and let them appreciate that constitutional government can defend their interest, constitutional government can look after their human right, and constitutional government can guarantee that they can express themselves freely, but mostly importantly constitutional governments are able to create the opportunity that make them able to realize their full potential to live in dignity and prosperity.”
Despite his optimism that the future NDC administration will succeed, he did admit that it will be a challenging assignment given the mess the Akufo-Addo led government created.
“It is going to be an arduous task but we all must sit up and make sure we are able to discharge our responsibilities to our people. I am convinced that NDC will win that election”.
Various efforts, according to Mr. Mahama, are being made to develop policies and programmes for fast implementation in order to get things going as soon as the NDC takes office in 2025.
“We must hit the ground running. I am not going to wait until I win the election to start to think about what to do. I know that several dedicated people under Prof. Danso Boafo organization we call the “LAB” looks at all the various sectors – governance, economy, trade, Agriculture, health, education and tourism and comes out with concrete policies we can put in effect as soon as we have taken over to make Ghana the Ghana we want”.
He called on NDC members to be vigilant in the 2024 elections to secure victory for the party.
“While we prepare to go into that election, we must be vigilant and alert and indeed more than we were in Assin North. But aside from that, we must keep an eye on what we are going to do as soon as we come to power.
He said the “legal directorate and NDC Lawyers group are going to be critical towards winning this election. One of the things you need to do is to acquaint yourself with the electoral codes to watch the process to make sure the NDC is represented properly, that you understand the electoral process and that nothing untoward goes on in the polling stations. I believe that it is this end of sacrifice that is required of us so that we can win the election 2024. The prospects look very good for winning 2024 but we cannot rest on our ores. We need to be vigilant. We have an opponent who can take advantage of any list opportunity to manipulate the electoral process and so we need to be on our feet and make sure that we prevent anything like that from happening.”
