Former President John Dramani Mahama has urged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its teeming followers to work hard and present the party as an alternative to taking over governance of the state.
Ghanaians, he said, are looking up to the opposition NDC not to become the next government by default as a result of the failures of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) but to be the choice because the opposition is a better alternative.
“We must not win by default of the lapses of this administration but we must win because we are the better alternative,” he said.
The former President made the call at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday, December 17 in his keynote address at the NDC national delegates’ congress to elect a new set of national executives of the party.
He argued there is no need to fight and take political power from the NPP if the NDC is to going to make the same mistakes and abuses as the Akufo-Addo government has visited on the Ghanaian people.
The NDC, he said, must be the government of infrastructure; the government that protects the human rights of all Ghanaians regardless of the political party they belong to.
“The NDC must be a government of economic prosperity and growth. The NDC must be a government of modesty and humility. The NDC must be a government that fights corruption and dissipation of public funds and the NDC must be a government of prudence and accountability,” he said.
Mr. Mahama stressed that the work of the NDC has been cut out in the days that follow the national congress and warned the party could ill-afford to spend precious time on unhelpful and unnecessary internal bickering.
He urged the NDC to get off the marks immediately and convince Ghanaians that in addition to superior records in governing with that of the NPP, the NDC is more than ready to be the alternative government come 2025.
He averred that the first step to doing that is by proving to the Ghanaian people that NDC can manage its own internal affairs and hold itself to acceptable standards and behavior.
“That is why I reiterate my call for all of us here to be mindful of our actions and play our roles at this congress peacefully so that we may leave here a more united and stronger force capable of leading the efforts to save Ghana from certain collapse from this NPP administration,” he stated.