Professor Joshua Alabi, Campaign Manager for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, attributed the party’s loss in the 2020 presidential election to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the passing of the party’s founder, Jerry John Rawlings.

According to Prof. Alabi, the pandemic disrupted campaign activities, while the government capitalized on its COVID-19 relief efforts, such as providing free food, water, and electricity, as a form of indirect campaigning.

In an interview with Channel One TV regarding his re-appointment as Campaign Manager for John Mahama, the NDC’s flagbearer, Prof Alabi expressed confidence in the party’s prospects for the 2024 elections. 

He added that the party has learned from past setbacks and is committed to redoubling efforts to achieve victory.

“So what this means to me is that it has offered me the opportunity to make a critical analysis of what was last time and then see how best we can polish what gaps we had and fix that in the 2024 campaign. As you are aware, in 2020…we had a covid in this country.

“We were released to the campaign around somewhere in July. Yes, we had to set our machinery in place. Of course, setting all your machinery in place from July to December was quite a difficult task for us, but we had to do our best.

"Midway in our campaign again, we had a bad match, and that was the demise of our father, the founding father of the party, John Jerry Rawlings. So we had to truncate our campaign,” he said.

Professor Alabi also detailed strategic approaches, including door-to-door canvassing, active engagement with constituencies, and targeted messaging, aimed at presenting the flagbearer in a positive light to voters and securing victory.

He underscored the campaign's commitment to focusing on substantive issues and maintaining a respectful tone, highlighting the candidate's strengths and appealing to the electorate.

However, he warned against complacency, emphasizing the necessity for the party to diligently safeguard its path to electoral success.

“There is a belief out there that the NDC has won the election already, we don’t want to take that because if something belongs to you and you don’t protect it, the thief will take it so we have to work.

"So we are going to work with various constituencies, we are going to go out there, door to door like we did in 2008 which added up to our campaign and we are also going to look at our messages and the plan of work and I am confident that the with all this we’ll get the flagbearer [elected]."