Governance and Legal Policy Officer at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Mr Kojo Pumpuni Asante has urged President John Dramani Mahama to take advantage of the available opportunity created by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), for presidential candidates to market himself. He warned, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) “stands to lose something” if the party keeps to its decision to boycott that platform. The NDC, prior to the death of President John Atta Mills, announced the then president will not participate in the presidential debates organized by the IEA for candidates to explain their policies to the electorates. But Kojo Asante told Joy FM’s Araba Koomson in an interview that holding on to that decision posed a threat to the NDC as far as the December polls were concerned. He explained that the platform gave candidates the opportunity to sell broad policy initiatives to the people and maintained, it will not hurt the NDC if their presidential candidate used it to articulate those ideas. Mr Asante who was speaking on Joy FM’s Election Headquarters on Wednesday, described the debate as a very useful exercise, saying it gave a summary of policy alternatives by the various political parties. He further explained that the platform provided the electorate with issues to discuss so as to interrogate the feasibility of those proposals which will help them to make informed choices ahead of the polls. So far, Mr Asante said he had been particularly impressed by the performances of the flag bearers of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Dr Abu Sakara, he explained, was very articulate and quite strong in espousing his views on agriculture and how its exploitation can transform the economy. About the performance of Nana Addo Dankwa Akofo-Addo of the NPP, who maintained his position on his proposed free SHS education, the CDD-fellow said “I didn’t expect anything less than that...” even though he thought there were still “a whole range of policies Nana had to get conversant with.” Mr Asante hoped more opportunities like this would be provided for politicians to explain their policies to the people and on a wider scale.