2020 polls: ‘Shine your eyes’ with ‘boot-for-boot’ vigilance at poll centres – Mahama to NDC

Former President John Mahama has urged all members of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to “match” their opponents “boot-for-boot” at the polling stations during the 2020 general elections.

Speaking to party supporters after a 10.6-km Victory Health Walk in Accra on Saturday, 2 March 2019, a week after his election as flag bearer, Mr Mahama said: “After the [presidential] primaries, now the hard work begins”.

“We still have very important things to do”, Mr Mahama announced, explaining: “We have to choose our parliamentary candidates, first in the orphaned constituencies and afterwards in the constituencies where we have incumbent MPs and we know that that is a very sensitive matter”.

“Often”, he said, “When we have held primaries for the parliamentary candidates and one has won, the other decides that he doesn’t accept the results and decides to run independently”.

“That has been the cause of us losing many constituencies”, the former president observed, adding: “We are going to make sure that these parliamentary elections are held as peacefully [as possible], and with consensus, as we have done the presidential primaries so that we shall come out of the parliamentary primaries as one”.

According to Mr Mahama, the NDC can carry parliament after the general elections if the rank and file remain united and are vigilant during the polls.

“I can feel it in my heart that the majority in parliament is going to be won by the NDC in the 2020 elections. But my brothers and sisters, to be able to do that we need to be united and to work hard.



“Let all of us go back to our branches because elections are won or lost at the polling stations. If you do not match your opponent boot-for-boot at the polling station level – and this time when I say ‘boot-for-boot’, I mean ‘shine your eye’ – watch every stage of the electoral process and make sure that the figures that are recorded at the polling stations are correct and that is the way we can guarantee a victory in the elections. Let our message be to the Ghanaian people”.