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Majority leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is predicting a 57 percent of valid votes that will be cast in the upcoming elections, to ensure the National Democratic Congress (NDC) victory.

According to Mr. Bagbin, the party’s achievements over the years under the leadership of President John Mahama, are enviable and will earn him a second term in the December polls.

“Yes, we need to work hard, no complacency, and we have to be vigilante on the election day but with such a wounded elephant I don’t know what they can do apart from fight with desperation,” he said to a cheering crowd at the Sunyani Coronation Park, last Saturday.

He said, the habitat of the elephant, which is the official emblem of the NPP, is the bush, hence asked Ghanaians to come together to “fulfill the prophesy of Dr Arthur Kennedy by chasing the elephant into the bush.

That is its natural heritage.

Mr Bagbin, was certain of NDC victory in this year’s election, which he has projected a 57 per cent win for the party, saying “the 57 percent target is achievable. Yes we need to work hard”.

He grounded his projection on what he said is the implementation of the NDC’s transformational agenda. Mahama “has injected more vim and vitality to the implementation of the agenda and has visibly change the lives of many Ghanaians and transformed the country.

“I’m sure on behalf of the 275 parliamentary candidates and on my own behalf…We will achieve agenda two -thirds of MPs. We are targeting 184 members of parliament and we will attain that,” Member of Parliament for Nadoli Kaleo added.
According to him, Ghana is the second largest economy in West Africa after Nigeria and 12 largest in Africa.

He claimed Ghana has the highest national income among its neighbours, noting the quality of life of the people has improved tremendously thus catapulting life expectancy of its citizens from 58 yrs from 2008 to 64 yrs in 2012.

“Ghanaians have seen the rest, it is now time to see the best. I want to wish all parliamentary candidates a resounding success as his he the president has already won.

“With a galaxy of such capable messengers as parliamentary candidate led by an accomplished president John Mahama as our presidential candidate, I’m more than confident that NDC will win with a wide margin,” Mr Bagbin said.

“With a galaxy of such messengers, our parliamentary candidates, led by an accomplished Presidential candidate, John Mahama; I am more than confident that NDC will win with a large margin. The 57% target I want to assure all of you is achievable, yet we need to work hard, no complacency and we have to be vigilant on the Election Day.”

The NDC National Chairman Kofi Portuphy, is convinced the incumbent has won the elections already, but says members of the party would have to avoid complacency, and work hard to seal the victory.

He also stated that there was the need for all members of the NDC to turn up in their numbers and vote massively to keep the party in power for another four years.

“It is important for us that, now that we have the message very clear, on voting day, let us be courageous enough to come out in our numbers and vote. Nobody should think that we have won the elections. Yes; we have won the election already, but all of us need to come out and vote on election
day.”

Mr. Portuphy also emphasized the need for the party to “help the sick, weak and needy” to vote on election day to increase the party’s chances of winning the election.

“Let us help the sick people, let us help the weak people, let us help the needy people. Let us volunteer on voting day, we are bringing everybody out to vote. If we don’t bring them, we may not get all the votes so let us maintain the discipline,” he emphasized.

Mr. Portuphy also extended his gratitude to all party members who had contributed to promoting discipline and unity in the party.

“Put a value on the support you have given me as your National Chairman, National Executives and the President. It is outstanding. Let us keep the unity going and volunteer more of our time to ensure that we win this victory one touch.”

One of the Vice Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofu, touted President Mahama’s achievements over the past four years, saying he comes next to Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah in terms of infrastructural development.

According to him, President Mahama is the second President who has the highest record of infrastructural projects apart from former President Kwame Nkrumah, and appealed to Ghanaians to give the President another opportunity to fulfill all his promises.

“Our President has demonstrated enough capacity tenacity, strength, capacity and the intellectual ability and the managerial capacity to lead this country…

“In fact, if you take Kwame Nkrumah out in terms of infrastructural development, President John Dramani Mahama stands very tall and I believe that with the good works that he has started, the best that we can do for Ghana, the best thing we can do for the future of this country and the generation yet unborn, is to allow President John Mahama to continue with his second term and ensure that he delivers on the promises and sends Ghana to the promised land.”

Mr. Ofosu Ampofo, who doubles as the party’s Director of Elections, explained that the party decided to hold its manifesto launch in Sunyani for “strategic reasons.”

“Brong Ahafo is a “very strategic region for us for organisation and strategic purposes. It is one of the three swing regions in our country and so in our scheme of things, we thought that having launched our campaign in the Central Region, which is also one of the swing regions, we will move to Brong Ahafo to launch the manifesto so it is for very strategic reasons. Again the Brong Ahafo Region is centrally placed. Such that it is very easy to connect the South to the North; and so movement of our people towards this area is not a problem at all.”

He further explained that, the event will give the rank and file of the party an opportunity to “know the tenets of the manifesto, the pillars of the manifesto and go and campaign based on that.”

Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, said that the next NDC government led by President Mahama, will rely heavily on civil society organisations and the media, by resourcing them to fight the canker of corruption,

The Tamale South MP disagreed with critics who say President Mahama lacked the courage to address issues of corruption when he presented highlights of the manifesto.

Mr. Iddrisu, who spoke on transparency and accountability, said it is an erroneous impression for critics to say the government had failed to tackle corruption effectively, explaining that President Mahama had shown ample commitment in that regard.

In his view, the President in several instances only sought to respect the constitution by following the rule of law. “When the President shared his vision and vision on the highlights of the manifesto, there were many who jumped onto a conclusion that the NDC manifesto was silent on corruption.
That cannot be the case and that will not be the case. There is a dedicated commitment and charter on combating corruption, white-collar criminality, illegal trafficking and money-laundering. And President Mahama pledges to the people of Ghana that the NDC will continue to make corruption a high-risk activity punishable in accordance with the rule of law. And therefore investigative bodies, prosecution bodies, will be strengthened as they are being strengthened today to support President Mahama’s quest to fight corruption.”

He added that, “President Mahama and the NDC recognises that corruption has a debilitating effect on governance and can weigh public confidence in the political system. President Mahama pledges that every district assembly, Municipal and metropolitan, will now have a dedicated representative of the Attorney General to help with the prosecution of cases.”

“The President has submitted to Parliament what we call the sunshine law, to expose corruption through the freedom of information act and public officers’ accountability act and others in order to deepen transparency and accountability in government. President Mahama is collaborating with the judiciary to fight judiciary corruption, and President Mahama recognises the role of a critical of independent media and civil society to fight corruption, and will continue to support the media to be able to combat corruption and to expose it. Therefore, it is the pledge of President Mahama that all anti-corruption institutions and agencies will be supported and strengthened financially by way of capacity to be able to do that.”

The Minister of Transport, Fifi Kwetey, said the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), unlike the NDC, is a party that only spends time talking, whiles the NDC delivers on its promises.

“They [NPP] do the talking, we [NDC] do the doing. They are empty barrels that make a lot of noise, we are full barrels we do not make a lot of noise. That is the difference between them and us…”Fifi Kwetey said this the launch of the party’s manifesto at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region.

He further indicated that, the NPP’s assertion that the governing NDC has had the highest revenue in the history of the country, and so it behooves them to carry out more developmental projects is a lie.

“Our friends in the NPP recently said that, NDC government has done a lot from 2013 to now, and the only reason why we have done a lot is because we have had more money than any other government. I want to tell you today that it is a lie.”

“Between 1993 to the year 2000, when NDC was in power for the first time, the total revenue that we had was 2 billion cedis and the total debt that
we had at the time was 13 billion. When NPP came to power between 2001 and 2008, their total revenue went to 22 billion and the total debt went to 57 billion. Even though they had so much revenue than us between 1993 and 2000, they had almost five times the debt that NDC had between 1993 and 2000, NDC was able to build 3 regional hospitals…

“NDC was able to build three universities, NPP got zero, NDC between 1993 and 2000 built 7 polytechnics, NPP built zero. NDC built houses,…but how many houses did the NDC build? Zero.Not even one chamber and hall, not even one single room was completed so when they tell you we had more money than they had that’s a lie. We had less money than they had; but because we were committed to transforming the lives of our people, we performed better than them. So today when you hear us talking about the mighty works that JM is going to do between 2017 and 2020, believe it because we come from a tradition that does not talk…”

He believes the NDC has set a clean track record by delivering on its promises and therefore deserves another term in government.

President Mahama, last week Tuesday, September 13, presented highlights of the party’s manifesto which he says will focus broadly on putting people first, accountable governance and expanding infrastructure for job creation.
The President revealed that, the manifesto is structured in four thematic areas that capture many social intervention policies aimed at improving the lives of Ghanaians.

Mr. Mahama who outdoored the NDC’s manifesto for the 2016 elections at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region on Saturday said the NDC has the best of programs and policies to move Ghana forward.

The NDC, has over the years, been frank and candid with the Ghanaian people in spite of the challenges that confronted the initial stages of his administration.

“The NDC has the best of plans that can move this country forward. We have been candid and frank with the people of Ghana and we have demonstrated that we take them seriously even as we ask for another mandate to serve.”
The NDC flagbearer also assured labour of improved working conditions if he wins the December 7 polls.

“We are grateful to organised labour for the peaceful cooperation and relationship over the years. And I promise even better years ahead as our economy grows from strength to strength”.

Mahama who has already given highlights of the much-talked about policy document, revealing that his second term is likely to give Ghana five extra administrative regions, e-text books to students, over 20 polyclinics, two more psychiatric hospitals, tri-cycles for persons with disability among others.

He said, the manifesto aims at putting people first, accountable governance and expanding infrastructure for job creation.
President Mahama promised the working force of the country of better conditions as the economy grows.

He said, his government was appreciative of the relationship that has existed between them and labour since he assumed office.

“We are grateful to organised labour for the peaceful cooperation and relationship over the years. And I promise even better years ahead as our economy grows from strength to strength.”

According to him, the economic indicators under his administration suggest that the Ghanaian economy has performed much better over the last eight years than it did before the NDC came to government.

The President, who has already given highlights of the manifesto, said the various promises being made are practical and achievable.

He said, the manifesto aimed at putting people first, accountable governance, and expanding infrastructure for job creation.