I will be polling agent — Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama has urged party executives and supporters to volunteer to man the polling stations and collation centres to ensure the right things are done to secure the victory for the party in the next elections.

He said he would not resort to the Supreme Court with an election petition following how the court handled the 2020 election petition.

"Maybe, another flag bearer will go to the Supreme Court. For me, I won't go again," he told party executives and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ho last Monday, during his "thank you" tour.

He gave instances where the Supreme Court refused several applications from his lawyers, including an application for the court to allow the Electoral Commissioner (EC), Mrs Jean Mensa, to provide certain needed documents and for her to be cross examined to enable them put their case across.

He said although the NDC accepted the verdict for the peace of the country, it had done its homework and believe that the party must be extra vigilant at the polling stations and collation centres to win power.

Polling agent

"All of us are going to be polling agents. I am the presidential candidate but will go and sit at a polling station and be a polling agent on that day," he said.
The party constituency executives, he advised, should not put relatives who did not understand the electoral systems to man polling stations because the dynamics of elections had changed.

"Today, election is not about just going to sit there. It is about knowing the electoral system. It is about knowing arithmetic. The places where they can swap the results. You got 462. Somebody gets 263 and they will swap it and put 462 here and 263 there. If you cannot go through and make sure that the right thing is written on the polling sheet then that is it," he noted.

He said if the right thing was done, the NDC would win any free and fair elections in the country.

Handover

According to him, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's desire to hand over government to another New Patriotic Party (NPP) president should not be an imposition but the will of Ghanaians.

"You cannot determine that. It is the sovereign will of Ghanaian people and the will of God that will determine who will be the president. You cannot sit and say you will hand over to another NPP president," he said.

He said the failure of the government to deal with problems affecting the people and the youth especially was an indication that Ghanaians would elect the NDC into power to continue what they started and could not finish.

Right choice

The running mate of the NDC in the 2020 general election, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku - Agyemang, said the youth should have faith in the NDC as a better option that addressed their needs.

She said the NDC was the only party that groomed the youth to become who they wanted to become and, therefore, commended the youth for their support and love for the party.