Tanoso (B/A) July 21, GNA - Mr. John Dramani Mahama, Presidential running mate of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), has cautioned the electorate against exchanging their voter ID cards for loans. He said if they did so they would become disenfranchised and cannot vote in the December election.

Mr. Mahama said this at a rally for market women and drivers at Tanoso and Techiman at the weekend.

He also paid courtesy calls on the chiefs of Tanoso and Zongo Community as part of his 10-day campaign tour of Brong-Ahafo Region. Throwing more light on the alleged exchange of voter cards for loans by some people, Mr. Mahama said information gathered indicated that some people were going round offering loans to market women and other small-scale businesses in exchange for their voter ID cards. He urged people to resist such demands and rather report to the security authorities, particularly the police. "The voter ID card is not collateral for loans and any exchange of the card for a loan amounts to vote buying", he said. Mr. Mahama told the people the NDC was poised to capture power in the December polls so it could provide equal opportunities for all Ghanaians to exploit potentials towards alleviating poverty in the country.

He said the NPP government had brought hardship to the people over the past seven and half years, resulting from high cost of agricultural inputs, high cost of living, increased electricity and water bills. He promised the drivers that the NDC would provide a good environment for commercial drivers to operate so they could contribute meaningfully to national economic development. "The NDC government was the first to support drivers to acquire their own buses", he said and urged them to vote for the NDC to rekindle the bond of cooperation between them.

Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, the 2004 running mate for Prof. John Atta Mills, reiterated the need for the people to see NDC as the only party that could champion the development agenda of the country. He said the NDC's record of development in Brong-Ahafo Region was unparalleled in the country's political history and mentioned some of the projects as a regional hospital, roads, provision of schools and the extension of electricity to the region. Nana Kwaku Kwarteng II, Chief of Tanoso, commended Mr. Mahama for exhibiting maturity during his campaign and stressed the need for activists of the party to follow his example.