The National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential running mate for election 2008, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has made a passionate appeal to all the warring factions in the Bawku crisis to lay down their arms and give peace a chance.
He said the three northern regions were the least developed and poorest in the country. Any dispute in those areas, therefore, would aggravate the situation.
Mr Mahama, who is also the Bole Bamboi Member of Parliament (MP), made the appeal in his acceptance speech, after he had been officially introduced by Professor John Evans Atta Mills as his running mate, at a colourful and well attended ceremony at the National Theatre in Accra on Wednesday.
Mr Mahama stated that when the NDC came to power, it would go into the protracted issue and find a lasting solution to ensure that it does not rear its ugly head again.
“This is my running mate, in whom I am well pleased”. These were the words that Prof. Mills used to introduce Mr Mahama, which earned thunderous applause at the National Theatre, which was filled to capacity with party faithful, most of whom wore smocks depicting the NDC colours, green T-shirts or white dresses.
The occasion was also witnessed by some officials of other political parties and members of the diplomatic corps.
Officially accepting the offer, Mr Mahama, who had donned a white, short sleeves shirt with three red, green and black dots representing the party’s colours, said “I am ready to take up the position you have assigned me as your running mate and I am ready to take up the responsibility of being your vice-president, come January 2009.”
Mr Mahama said although Prof. Mills never taught him at the University of Ghana, Legon where he (Mahama) was a student in 1979, he witnessed the good qualities of the Professor and also praised him for his sterling leadership qualities when he was President Rawlings’ Vice-President.
He particularly mentioned Prof. Mills’ role in deregulating the telecommunications sector and transforming the media landscape in the country from state-owned monopolies in the print and electronic media to the current explosion of newspapers and FM radio stations.
On the claim by political pundits and opponents of the NDC that this year’s election would be decided on the basis of a comparison of the records of NDC and NPP, Mr Mahama described this as a “recipe for mediocrity.”
He said the challenge was not about how many schools or hospitals a government was able to build but it was about what that party would be able to do, given the resources available but was quick to add that that did not mean the NDC would not debate any party on its record.
He described the record of the NDC’s eight-year rule that ended in year 2000 as “impressive” and added “to whom much is given, much is required”, an obvious reference to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government which had received more resources.
Mr Mahama claimed that from 1960 to 2000 the total loan agreement signed by the various Ghanaian governments amounted to $10.4 billion, while from 2001 to 2007, Ghana had received $4.7 billion which had been injected into the economy under the NPP administration.
He explained that comparatively, the NPP had had more funds and was expected to have done better than what it had done so far and added “if they had taken their chances, the NDC would not have had a dog’s chance in this year’s election.”
“The tragedy of the NPP is not what they have achieved but what they could not achieve,” he said, and gave the assurance that under Prof. Mills’ administration, the NDC would build on the legacies of both former President Rawlings and President Kufuor.
The almost four-hour programme, which attracted over 100 reporters, was spiced with Christian musical interludes, cultural and acrobatic displays and poetry recitals extolling the virtues of former President J.J. Rawlings, Prof. Mills and Mr Mahama, as well as the NDC party, while at the same time creating hope in the party rank and file that the NDC would be victorious in the 2008 elections.
Two ladies who recited the poems, one in English and the other in Twi, could be described as those who stole the show. They recited the poems with precision.
The words of the poems were so touching that most of the people in the auditorium who had been disturbing as the programme went on were at this time caught spellbound.
The Faith Band from Mataheko, after playing some local renditions of popular Christian songs, also played gospel tunes with the lyrics of the NDC’s campaign statements.
The group with the youngest members was the Dansoman Youth Choir. They also treated the people to some tunes in the Methodist Hymn Book as well as their own rendition of “Jehovah, You Are the Most High”, dubbed “Atta Mills, You Are the Most High”.
They ended the programme with the singing of the national anthem.When it was the turn of the Tessa Cultural Troupe from Odododiodoo, immediately they started playing Ga tunes, the MP for the area, Mr Jonathan Tackie-Komme, started dancing.
Although the party promised to inundate Accra with NDC colours the morning before the programme, very little of this was witnessed; only a few roads leading to the National Theatre were decorated with NDC miniature flags.
Story by Donald Ato Dapatem
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