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Our attention has been drawn to a publication which appeared on Ghanaweb on Friday November 2 2012 under the caption �Time to have your own as President�. According to the report the President was addressing a campaign rally at Nankpanduri during which he called on Northerners to vote for him in order to make them proud and that Northerners were tired of being vice presidents adding that it is time for Northerners to be at the front of running the country. It is, to say the least unfortunate and regrettable that such reckless and irresponsible statements should be coming from no less a person than the President of the Republic of Ghana. We are therefore calling on the President to render an unqualified apology to the people of Ghana because these reprehensible pronouncements have become a source of embarrassment to the nation. As the occupant of the highest office in the land, the least Ghanaians expect of their President is for him to demonstrate a modicum of decency, civility and circumspection in his utterances and conduct. Sadly, President Mahama�s ethnocentric politics as evidenced by these rather shameful pronouncements at Nankpaduri underscores the extent to which President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC are prepared to go in order to win political power. It also demonstrates the level of desperation within the NDC and their determination to retain power at all cost irrespective of the consequences for the country. It would be recalled that this is not the first that leading members of the NDC have resorted to such unpatriotic and tribal politics .In 2008 the then candidate Mills made similar misguided statements in the now infamous �ade wo fie a oye� saga. And just last week the General Secretary of the NDC Mr Aseidu-Nketia was reported telling Northerners that it was now their turn to ascend to the Presidency. We find such divisive statements most unfortunate and regrettable especially when they come from the Commander-in-chief who by virtue of his constitutional duty is required to uphold and defend the unity of the country. Apart from endangering national unity and cohesion, the President�s un-presidential pronouncements are historically inaccurate and factually incorrect. Northerners have been and continue to be in the frontline of Ghana�s politics before and after independence. Some of the outstanding leaders from the North who have served this country include but not limited to Alhaji Yakubu Tali(Tolon Naa) Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, J S Braimah, Chief S D Dombo, Naa Abayifa Karbo, Jato Kaleo, B K Adama Imoro Ayarna and H.E Dr Hilla Limann. For the President to downgrade their contribution and suggest otherwise is an insult to the memory of these patriotic Ghanaians who have through hard work ,honesty and incorruptible leadership served their country with distinction and made Northerners very proud. Thus, it does not require the election of John Mahama to make Northerners proud, and if it is a question of bringing pride to the North, John Dramani Mahama is the least qualified to do so. It needs to be pointed out that from 1979 to December 1981, Ghana had a President from the North in the person of Dr Hilla Limann.It is therefore absurd for President Mahama to imply that Northerners have been relegated to the background in our country�s politics. This is in fact the greatest fallacy which arises from intellectual confusion and political dishonesty. After more than two decades of multi-party democracy, Ghanaians have moved and gone beyond tribal politics. The coming elections it must be said, is a battle over education, the economy, job creation, affordable housing and health care .These are the issues that will inform voters and subsequently determine the outcome of the elections and not one�s ethnic background or tribal affiliation. Furthermore, the December polls is a in fact a referendum on the Mills-Mahama-Arthur administration and Ghanaians would be casting their votes taking into consideration as to whether the so called better Ghana Agenda has in reality become a Bitter Ghana Agenda. The hardships unleashed on Ghanaians as a result of government incompetence, mismanagement, ineptitude and corruption are issues that matter to ordinary Ghanaians and to which they demand answers and solutions. The persistent Power, Gas and Water shortages that have characterized the NDC government, the ever rising cost of living, the depreciation of the cedi, the non- payment of public sector workers and the insanitary conditions that have engulfed our cities affect all Ghanaians equally irrespective of their tribe or ethnicity. Another important issue that is of utmost concern in this election is that of corruption which has assumed uncontrollable dimension under the present government. Ghanaian voters are more concerned about President Mahama�s role in the payment of fraudulent Judgment Debts, the failed STX deal which cost the Ghanaian taxpayer $300 million, the questionable circumstances surrounding the purchase of the Embraer 190 jet at the cost of $81 Million instead of $31 Million on the open market, the Cuban Government Scholarship program under which the government of Ghana paid GH 50,000 instead of GH 5,000 per the student as admitted by the President. Voters would also want to know how $170 Million belonging to the people of Ghana ended up in the President�s Account in a Swiss Bank. These are legitimate questions that would guide all voters in the forthcoming elections. We wish to remind President John Dramani Mahama (JDM) that this type of 12th century byzantine tribal politics has no place in 21st Ghana. In this day and age when ethnic barriers are being removed with nations coming together to form regional groups and blocks to strengthen their negotiation positions, we in Ghana unfortunately have a President who thinks and acts along tribal lines. Recent events in other parts of Africa, particularly Rwanda and the Ivory Coast should serve as a constant reminder of the inherent dangers of using tribalism or ethnicity for political purposes. God Bless Our Home Land Ghana Signed