The flagbearer of the biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama, has called on Ghanaians to do an assessment of their living conditions and be guided by that in casting their ballot in the December 7 polls.

Mr Mahama made the call at a durbar of chiefs and people of Ashiem in the Western North Region on Tuesday, 18 February 2020.

The former president visited the community as part of his SpeakOut tour of the Western North Region.

Addressing the chiefs and people of the Ashiem community, the NDC flagbearer said: “Ex-President Kufuor said something: that when it’s time for you to cast your vote, assess your life and vote accordingly. Assess your life and vote. … God, sometimes, allows a particular government to come into power and later puts up schools, CHPS compounds, provides water and electricity."

"However, our brothers said I didn’t know how to do the job and that I was incompetent. They said the NDC government was incompetent and, so, we [Ghanaians] should try them also. And, so, Ghanaians listened to them and gave them the to govern this country."

“We exited government almost four years ago, and, so, as we go into the election, what we’re asking you is: ‘In the past four years, have you progressed or retrogressed in life?’ When you go to stand beside the ballot box with your ballot paper, ask yourself if you have progressed or retrogressed in life”, Mr Mahama urged the durbar.

The former President also assured the people that under his administration, cocoa farmers and the cocoa-growing industry will see extensive growth.

“We [NDC] know that if we assist farmers, the country will benefit from them and, so, when we come back, we’ll make sure that the cocoa industry is restored to the point where we left office. We’ll ensure that farmers have access to fertiliser. Before we left power, we imported fertiliser and we wrote on it, ‘Not for sale’, meaning we don’t sell it, we give it out to farmers for free."

"However, a government that is supposed to abide by the laws rather decides to sell this to farmers, whether the farmers like it or not. If you come to power through lies, you cannot govern a country with lies because you cannot come and tell the people their lives are better when the people themselves know that is not the case.”