‘We’ll not give up until the right thing is done’ - NDC

Mr John Akologo Tia, a former Minister of Information, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will continue to protest peacefully and adopt legitimate measures to ensure the Electoral Commission (EC) does the right.

He said: “We are not giving up today, we are not giving up tomorrow until the right thing is done. John Mahama clearly won the election. The NDC won the majority seats in Parliament.”

Mr Tia was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga on the side-line of a demonstration organised by the Upper East Regional branch of the NDC.

The demonstrators, clad in red and black, held placards with inscriptions like: “Akufo-Addo stop forcing yourself on Ghanaians,” “EC must count my vote,” “We need justice,” “If you want peace, give us justice,” as they marched through major streets of the Bolgatanga Municipality.

The Party supporters also burnt lorry tyres on the streets to register their displeasure about the outcome of the just ended Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Mr Tia, who is also Ghana's former Ambassador to Cuba, said justice and freedom were the fundamental principles on which the country was founded and that must reflect in the democratic governance of the country.

He said demonstration was one of the options the Party was using to register its protest to compel the EC to declare the elections in favour of the NDC, “as the people mandated it to be.”

Mr Sunday Casper Kampoli, the Upper East Regional Deputy Communications Officer of the NDC, also told the GNA that the demonstration was to register the Party’s displeasure over the election results.

“As a Region, we voted massively for the NDC, that is Mr John Dramani Mahama and all our parliamentary candidates, except for the Binduri Constituency.

“So we thought it wise to come out and let the world know that we the people of the Upper East Region gave our mandate to the NDC, and our mandate still remains with the NDC. The EC should not, in anyway, try to give our mandate to Nana Akufo-Addo illegitimately,” he said.

Mr Kampoli called on the EC to transparently re-collate all the presidential ballots and heed to Mr Mahama’s call for a forensic audit.

Madam Matilda Atiah, a Party supporter, said: “Ghanaians can bear with us that the EC has gone on its website to rectify the results severally, and even the figures that are put out are not what we have on our pink sheets”.