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The flag bearer  of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC), as a matter of urgency, to begin to engage with all political parties on any major decision it will take that will  have  a direct bearing on the conduct of the 2020 general election.

That, he said, formed part of the processes to ensure a peaceful, transparent, free and fair elections in 2020.

According to Mr Mahama, the NDC was not against the election management  body but all that the party was asking for was for the EC to create a level playing field for all political parties to ensure a transparent, free and fair election in 2020.

He said since 1992 that Ghana returned  to multiparty democracy,  it was the NDC that had cooperated with the EC in the conduct of major  elections in the country, adding that “the NDC may have its disagreements  on some of the things the EC has decided to do ahead of  the 2020 general election but it does not mean we are antagonising the EC”.

“ We will, therefore, demand that the EC engages with all political parties which are major stakeholders in the country's  electoral system as it plans to engage the services of a new Information Technology (IT) firm to manage the IT systems of the commission and procure new Biometric Verification Machines ahead of the 2020  general election”, he said.

Training of Directors of Elections

Mr Mahama made the call at the opening  ceremony  of a three-day training programme for the party’s directors of elections and their deputies across the country in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital last Saturday  as part of the NDC's  preparations towards the 2020 general election.

The programme which had as its theme, “Repositioning the Election Directorate Strategically  for the 2020 elections” was organised by the Election Directorate of the party.

Mr Mahama stated that “As much as the NDC will not rig the elections we also do not want the elections to be rigged by anybody”, saying that is why as a political party we have found it necessary to train our electoral management team to help safeguard the electoral system.

He reiterated his call on the EC to make available to the NDC the full gazette of the 2016 election  results for the presidential and at the polling stations for analysis by the party as he requested from the EC  at a recent meeting with the commission.

Mr Mahama said the party was also opposed to the decision  by the EC to compile a new voters register for use for the 2020 general  election, pointing out that “what we know is that a new voters register is compiled after every major national housing and population census and not at this time.”

National issues

Touching on other national issues, Mr Mahama  called on the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led administration to issue a white paper on the Ayawaso Wuogon bye-election violence committee report  submitted to him to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in the 2020 general election.

Mr Mahama also spoke about the general economic hardship in the country, saying the people of Ghana are looking up to the NDC to save the situation, and therefore, the party could not afford to disappoint them.

He also lashed out at the government for its poor handling of the financial sector crisis leading to the collapse  of some banks and other financial institutions in the country.

This, he said had also left in its wake a huge debt of almost GH¢15 billion on the  taxpayer.

He said part of the reason for  the collapse of the banks was that the government had refused to pay contractors who also owed the banks, adding that was not the only sector which was struggling.

Mr  Mahama made  reference to a recent statement issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to buttress his point, saying that the statement said Ghana was in danger of debt distress .

“The present government accused us of  borrowing almost GH¢80 billion in eight years and yet in two-and-a-half years this government has borrowed more than GH¢80 billion. The sad thing is that there is nothing to show for it.

The country is not only debt distressed but also faced with poor revenue performance and high expenditure,” he stated.

“Government expenditure has ballooned and they are not able to collect enough revenue to meet expenditure. Part of the high expenditure is because of the huge number of political appointees. We are said to have achieved the world record of having 125 ministers,” he said.

“I can say that the NDC will drastically cut down the size of the bloated  number of ministers,” he stated.

Intimidation, harassment

The National chairman of the NDC, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, who chaired the opening ceremony of the programme noted that no amount of intimidation and harassment would deter the NDC in its resolve to march towards victory in the 2020 general election.

The National Director of Elections for the NDC, Mr  Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, said the training of the party's regional directors of election was part of the NDC's readiness to win the 2020 general election to enable former President Mahama continue with his good works.