NDC will not wait to assess Nana Addo in 4 years - Allotey Jacobs

The Central Regional Chairman for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs has disclosed that the Unity Walk in Cape Coast is a campaign strategy.

According to him, a stitch in time saves nine and so the Unity Walk is geared towards the re-organization of the NDC to prepare the party for the next election though Akufo-Addo’s government is only 10 months old in power.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Allotey Jacobs insisted that the early signs of the Nana Akufo-Addo led NPP government shows he has nothing good to offer Ghanaians and so the NDC will not wait for 4 years to assess his performance.

“This is how the NPP will end in power; nothing will change and they will continue to cover up their corrupt dealings. They will continue to sack people who were employed under former President Mills (late) and former President Mahama. This conviction has urged Ayisi-Boateng to come out boldly to say he is an ambassador for only the NPP sympathizers,” he charged.

He therefore mentioned that the NDC Unity Walk is part of the party’s political strategy to show the supporters of NDC that the party is ready to wrestle power again from the NPP thereby motivating the grassroots to rally behind the party again.

He added that even though it was not intentional to project former President Mahama ahead of the other Presidential hopefuls by allowing him to address the crowd, he was invited to address the crowd as a former Head of state.

But quickly he reiterated that, ideally, the grassroots and sympathizers of the NDC are calling for the comeback of former President Mahama to lead the party in 2020 as he stands a better chance than any other potential candidate.

“The crowd were chanting Mahama’s name that they want John to come back; it wasn’t a good thing as he has not declared his intention, but this tells you that 90 percent of the grassroots want Mahama to come back and that was exactly what they demonstrated,” he indicated.

He stressed that “it will be suicidal for the NDC to pick other Presidential candidate than Mahama”, considering the number of people who came out for the Unity Walk, chanting his name to lead the party in 2020.

“When President Mahama came to honour the purpose of the Unity Walk, we decided to test water by going round to some places to see if the people will rally behind NDC in 2020, because I heard those who didn’t vote for NDC in 2016 due to some misunderstanding have regretted and want to come back to the party. The crowd alone in Cape Coast was serious and it gives the signals that NDC is ready for 2020. Mahama was not even given breathing space as he went round the township,” he added.

He maintained that the demand for the comeback of NDC by the crowd in Cape Coast and that Mahama’s government is by far better than Akufo-Addo’s 10 months governance are indications that the people of Central Region have regretted voting for President Akufo-Addo.

He enlisted that the number of people who came for the Unity Walk were over 1000 and none of them was sponsored by anybody as they came voluntarily to show their love for the party; thus, the crowd at Cape Coast Unity Walk equate to the number of people who trooped Accra Sports Stadium for their finally rally in the 2016 elections.

“This gives me hope that in 2020, things will change again in Central Region; Central Region is ready for NDC again and the crowd proves that,” he claimed.