Former President and flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has pointed out that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been making inroads into the Volta Region, gauging the results in the last two general elections.

According to John Mahama, the NPP has devised propanga and vote buying means to convince and win votes of electorates in the NDC stronghold.

Mr. Mahama who was speaking at Juapong in the North Tongu constituency of the Volta Region during the first day of his tour of the Region, acknowledged that votes of the NPP have appreciated in the last two elections with the party polling about 14.1% in the 2020 general elections, against the NDC’s 84.8%.

He said this was not the case in the era of the late former President Jerry Rawlings, where the NPP used to get single digits votes in the Volta Region during general elections.

“In Rawlings's time, NPP used to get single digits in the Volta Region. In 2020 they have climbed and climbed and in 2020 they got 14% and so, it means that they are making inroads into the Volta Region.

"Now what do they do, they use propaganda and they come and tell you that you vote for NDC all the time and NDC has done nothing for you. And so even though we can see what we have gotten under NDC, the propaganda is so strong that we believe that NDC has done nothing”, he said.

Mr. Mahama debunked the assertion that successive NDC governments abandoned the Volta Region and explained that projects initiated and completed by NDC in the region are engineered to benefit generations.

He added that the NPP refused to complete projects started by the NDC while in government, citing the
Juapong - Abutia Road, the Eastern Corridor Road, the collapse of Juapong Textiles which he said was revived by the NDC government among others.

“They will come with propaganda and say NDC has done nothing for you. You see, NDC invests in things that would benefit the people, their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren.

"When we provide electricity, you are not the only one going to enjoy it, your children will enjoy it. When we build infrastructure in your schools, you are not the only one going to enjoy it, it will be there for your grandchildren, and when they are sick they will go to the hospitals. When we provide drinking water, you are not the only one going to drink that water, your children will drink that water”, he said.

Mr. Mahama indicated that the NPP has backed its propaganda with vote-buying to influence a few electorates to vote for their presidential and parliamentary candidates in elections.

He, therefore, advised the electorates to stand their guard, take the money being shared but vote for their preferred NDC candidates on December 7, to help him restore the country’s ailing economy and steer Ghana to the “promised land”.

“What the NPP does is, they will come and choose amongst you, 1,2,3,4 people, and when they steal the money, they will give them some. And so they also will come and give you 200, 200, 200, 200 and you will say since we started elections nobody has come to give me 200 cedis so I will vote for NPP.

"But you forget the more lasting development, the more lasting benefit, that benefits not only your community but generations yet unborn, you forget that it was provided by the NDC.

"They are going to come with the money, and I am telling the people of Juapong, of North Tongu, when the money comes, collect it and chop it, because the money is your own money, and when you go to the ballot box, vote for the truth”, he stressed.