Opinions of Thursday, 24 November 2016
Columnist: Tweneboah-Koduah, Nana Akua
By Nana Akua Tweneboah-Koduah
With the 2016 Elections campaign dynamically gliding down to the wire, I can say with all certainty that the NDC party has a lot of work to do before Ghanaians hit the polls on Wednesday December 7. And much of the work I must say is centered nowhere but the Greater Accra Region of all places.
Please make no mistake; the NDC has done a lot of work, which is dotted all over the Greater Accra Region. But the Regional Executives of the party in my estimation have not yet done enough to sell the party’s achievements to voters.
Apart from that, the NPP folks have used a lot of misinformation and outright lies to discredit the NDC and this has sunk deep into the minds of some key voting blocs in the Greater Accra Region. With many voters having already made up their minds on whom to vote for, it would be highly suicidal for the NDC not to heed to this strong advice from me.
In the 2012 Elections, President Mahama topped the pack with 1,125,751 votes, which represents 52.3% of the overall votes cast, while Akufo-Addo came in second with 1,009,787, which embodies 46.9%. On the parliamentarian vote, the NDC garnered 58.8%, which came with 20 seats as against NPP’s of 41.2% and 14 seats.
The NPP folks have this on their minds. Please don’t underestimate the NPP! Greater Accra comes next to the Ashanti Region in terms of population size and eligible voters nationally. On December 7, if God forbids and Akufo-Addo carries the Greater Accra Region by winning 52% of the votes, he would become the President-Elect. That is why the NPP is throwing everything on the platter in this region. The NPP is doing door-to-door campaign very forcefully, by knocking on doors and splashing a lot of dirt on President Mahama and the NDC.
If therefore, you are a regional executive of the NDC in the Greater Accra Region and you love the party so much as you claim, you will from this moment, stop jumping from one radio station to another. You will have to seize this habit of roaming from one television station to the other and get your ass to work.
Radio and television stations are good. Make no mistake about that; but roaming there daily with toothpaste smiles does not win elections. If it does, there is no way NDC would ever have won elections in Ghana. Greater Accra is therefore on the line! Those who are smiling today and not listening to good advice from people who genuinely care about the NDC better watch out. I repeat; radio and television stations do not win elections in Ghana.
Foot soldering has always been the substratum of the NDC. Talking to people, listening, and feeling their concerns are what set the NDC apart from the Yaanom. High horsing is alien to the NDC. And the NDC people always remember where they came from and where God has placed them today. It is therefore, suicidal to be in the NDC and behave like an NPP.
Again, I repeat that Greater Accra Region is on the line! And so are the jobs of all the Greater Accra Executives of the NDC. If they fail to work hard to get President Mahama to cross the finish line on December 7, they should not expect to get even a phone call from a radio stations to comment on anything after December 7.
President Mahama has done a lot in his first four years. If everybody is doing what is required of him or her, this should have been a home run for President Mahama.
He would not labour to explain anything to voters. Because everything he has accomplished is there for all to see. This election in my estimation should have been a handshaking-tour and nothing more.
The NDC Greater Accra Executives must wake up! Radio stations comments must seize. The Regional Executives must roll up their sleeves and get to work. It is the NDC party, which has made the Greater Accra Regional Executives what they are today. The NDC must win! The NDC must win Greater Accra. And President Mahama must win Greater Accra!
God be with us all!
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