General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia has refused to comment on the Former President’s refusal to retract his “Do or die” comment.
The former President on Wednesday stated emphatically he would not retract the comment and that he stands by it.
The former President has however come under strong criticisms for such comments for which many say amount to the “beating of war drums” ahead of the 2024 elections.
The governing New Patriotic Party said he should apologize to Ghanaians, promising to meet the NDC boot for boot.
But speaking on the 3FM’ Sunrise morning show with Alfred Ocansey, John Asiedu Nketia said he refuses to comment on the decision by the former president to retract and apologize.
“I told you that I am not going to continue debating when there is no debate; I have had to swear on that statement and I refuse to be detracted from very important national issues”.
According to him, the concerns now are the symptoms of what Ghanaians have been left with and that is the inefficiencies in the system.
When asked by the host whether he [Johnson Asiedu Nketia’s] refusal to comment on the Former President’s statement means going into the 2024 elections the NDC will take the law into their own hands? he said “Good morning to your listeners and have a nice day”.
The NDC scribe said the impunity in the system, the use of violence and manipulation of electoral systems are very dangerous times for an impending danger for the country.
“You can pull from the brink by addressing those issues and that is why our contribution towards that has been the preparation of electoral reforms which we believe will contribute towards the blockage of the peaceful means of change” he stressed.
Mr Mahama had indicated that that the 2024 election is going to be a do-or-die affair at the polling stations.
He said that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has learned lessons from the 2020 general elections.
Speaking on Techiman-based Akina FM’s on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, as part of his thank-you tour, Mr Mahama said “This current president has made elections life and death for him, he uses his Delta forces and invisible forces enrolled in the security agencies.
“You see some Military and police officers and ask whether these are indeed officers. They wear ear rings and all sort of things and you can’t tell whether this is a police officer or a soldier. We know they have infiltrated the security with some of their people
“Look at what happened at Techiman South the ways they shot at the crowd, it was intended to kill people. We hope that the next elections we won’t see scenes like that again.
“We have learnt our lessons from happenings during the 2020 polls. The 2024 elections will be won or lost at the polling station. It will be do-or-die at the polling stations. The right thing must be done during the polls. We will win the elections at the polling station and won’t wait for collation centre results nor petition the Supreme Court if aggrieved,” he said.
Despite criticisms against his comments, Mr Mahama in an interview on Moonlite FM in Sunyani on Wednesday, September 8, justified his comments saying they were harmless and “those who don’t understand English should stop the school interpretation”.
He insisted that “there was fraud in [the 2020] elections. . .that is why I said we learned lesson from it”.
“So the next elections,” he said in Twi, “we won’t wait and go to the Supreme Court.”
He added in English: “We will do it at the polling station and collation centre and I say it will be do or die.”
By Richard Bright Addo|3FM|3news.com|Ghana