Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, has said recent decisions by the Nana Akufo-Addo administration demonstrate that it is bent on holding on to power by whatever means possible.
Speaking on Wednesday, July 8, 2020, during the inauguration of his 2020 Campaign Team, Mr Mahama said the recent deployment of soldiers to the Volta Region at the start of the voters registration exercise is one such decision.
“We have a government that is determined to hang on to power, and it is determined to use any means to do so.
“Never have we in the history of the Fourth Republic felt so divided. Never in the history of the Fourth Republic have there been so much tension and stress amongst our people,” the former President said during the inauguration event at the NDC headquarters at Adabraka.
He said for the President to order the deployment of the military for a basic and fundamental democratic exercise like the voters registration shows the extent the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is willing to go to hang on to power.
“We all know that the military are to protect the territorial integrity of our country, and we rely on the military as a last resort when our country is in absolute distress.
“So to deploy the military at a time when we are starting a civil and democratic exercise like a registration cannot be coincidental. We have said the purpose for this deployment was to intimidate our people,” he stated.
Late last month, the government deployed military officers to the Volta and Oti regions in a controversial move.
The government explained that the deployment was to beef-up support for immigration officers struggling to man the many unapproved routes and prevent illegal immigrants from entering Ghana.
However, John Mahama mocked this explanation by the government, arguing that Ghana could not be sealing its borders to citizens of its neighbours because it has more cases than its neighbours.
“The explanation has been given that [the deployment] is to seal the borders to prevent COVID-19 from entering our country. Indeed, our neighbouring country should rather be afraid and be sealing their borders to prevent us from entering their countries. Because we have higher numbers of COVID-19 than they have,” he said.
“We all know the reasons for the deployment but Ghanaians are not to be intimidated,” he stressed.
The NDC Presidential candidate for the Election 2020 urged the 26-member campaign team members to work very hard to enable the opposition party kick out the NPP administration.
