Nana Addo must hit ground and stop media campaign – NDC Group

Organizers of #iChooseJM campaign say the vile propaganda the NPP is waging against their campaign shows that its activities are making the desired impact such that the NPP is feeling the pinch.

The main objective of the #iChooseJM campaign is to market the sitting president John Mahama who also doubles as the flagbearer of the ruling NDC. The group largely made up of activists of the party has sometimes resorted to pasting #iChooseJM stickers on vehicles as their modus operandi.

While some people have no problems with the move, several others feel irritated thus taking it off from their cars. The group has had to issue a statement apologizing for the inconvenience the move might have created for the public.

But the youth wing of the opposition NPP has come out to lambast the group describing their method as crude and a “clandestine” tactics to deceive the Ghanaian electorate ahead of the November elections. National Youth Organizer Mr. Sammy Awuku, described the campaign strategies adopted by #iChooseJM Campaign Train, as crude and also an indication of how desperate President Mahama is.

But speaking to Accra-based NEAT FM Monday, convener of the group Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe said the group has information that their strategy is effective and the NPP is being dazzled by the campaign #iChooseJM hence their needless attack on the exercise. According to him the exercise is aimed at targeting especially first time voters.

“We have realized from the data we have that there are about 1.6 million fresh voters who are going to be voting this year. Out of this about ninety-percent of them are people who have just turned the voting age of 18. What this means is that these 18-year olds were conservatively ten years old when Kufuor was leaving office and so may not have been old enough to know about the regime.

“It is therefore incumbent on us to make sure that they know more about JM and what he stands for, which is peace and development. We also realized that we lost the 2008 elections because we were complacent and so we have vowed to approach this elections with all the seriousness it deserves, we aren’t taking chances at all,” he told show host Kwesi Aboagye.

Mr. Tamakloe was, however, quick to add that the modus operandi of the #iChooseJM Campaign Train is perfectly legal, universally accepted and innovative beyond the estimation of the Youth Wing of NPP. He said the campaign has used public declaration of support for Mahama by organising rallies, producing vox pops, social media mobilization, and the distribution of flyers, stickers and other information materials and the branding of products, “as our modus operandi in this Campaign”.

“This is why we find it strange that Mr. Sammy Awuku will attack just one method of our strategies and describe that as a sign of desperation. The pasting of #iChooseJM stickers on cars, is a purely legal, innovative and universally accepted marketing strategy known as COLD CANVASSING or COLD CALLING,” he added.

Mr Tamakloe is urging the NPP to spend some time to learn about modern marketing strategies so as to improve the fortunes of Nana Addo.

He said the #iChooseJM will like to rather urge Awuku and the NPP to find practicable means of getting Akufo-Addo onto the grounds to campaign instead of resorting to the media.