NDC Worried Over Mahama's Disastrous Campaign Tour

Members of the governing National Democratic Congress and their sympathizers in the media are worried at the poor show at President Mahama’s just ended campaign tour of the country, under the guise of ‘Accounting to the People.’

They are particularly worried about the low turnout of party supporters, especially in the party’s strongholds of Volta region and the northern part of the country, viewed against the background that Nana Akufo-Addo enjoyed huge support in those areas during his recent tour.

It turned out to be disastrous for President Mahama in the north where he ended his campaign tour, a clear indication of the sharp decline in his popularity in the NDC’s strongholds.

The tour of the north was particularly marred by two very important demonstrations, both from aggrieved student groups.

The first was staged by students of the Bawku Senior High School and their colleagues at the Bawku Technical Institute. And the second was staged by students of the Nelerigu Nursing College.

They were both showing their anger at the bad educational policies of the Mahama government that have made life increasingly unbearable for them and negatively affecting their academic pursuits.

The secondary school students were angry for a very simple, justifiable reason: President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress government had failed to release funds for the payment of feeding grants.

Students of the Nelerigu Nursing College also demonstrated to draw attention to their unabated anger and frustration over the decision by President Mahama and his government to order the cancellation of payment of allowances to them, as well as automatic postings after school.

Over the weekend, on Radio Gold, an Accra based FM station sympathetic to the cause of the NDC, party loyalists expressed worries over the low patronage the president’s tour received.

Text messages to the programme from NDC members showed that all is not well with the party. They seemed to sense that change that is coming. They lamented how people in the Volta region have become unhappy and despondent. They also focused on similar lack of enthusiasm in other NDC strongholds. They were particularly not happy about how the party’s executives in the north failed to mobilise enough people show support for the president.

Kwasi Pratt Jnr, a regular panelist on the station’s programme “Alhaji and Alhaji” admitted to this trend, and had this advice for strategists of the party: "For President Mahama to win this year's polls, votes in the Volta Region needs to be maximized to optimal levels and better efforts put in campaigning in the Central region.”