The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) will lose its four seats in the Ashanti Region in this year’s elections, Regional Organiser of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Stephen Amoah has said in response to President John Mahama’s assertion that the NDC is targeting 13 seats in the NPP’s traditional stronghold.

Mr Amoah told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Monday that the NDC is not doing well in the region and also some of its members have defected to the NPP.

Meanwhile, a veteran member of the NPP in the region, Mr George Ayisi Boateng has described the 13-seat target of the NDC as “a joke” meant to tickle supporters of the governing party.

President Mahama, who is seeking re-election for his second and final four-year term has been touring the stronghold of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) since the weekend, assuring supporters of the NDC and Ghanaians in general that the party is confident of winning 13 out of the 47 seats in the region.

Already, the party has set a target to garner 1.5 million votes in the region.

Reacting to the target of the NDC in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson on Accra 100.5 FM on Monday, 7 November, Mr Ayisi Boateng said: “He [President Mahama] is joking with the target. I will be surprised if the NDC gets 2 seats in the region.”

“What work has he done in the region to win those seats? School Feeding Programmme has collapsed; Metro Mass Transit and National Health Insurance Scheme have all collapsed. Businesses are collapsing because of power outages. He claims he has solved it but we are still experiencing it. I am not the one saying all these. Go out there and speak with Ghanaians, speak with pregnant women who visit the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and find out whether the NHIS is working”.

“We will uproot him from power like cassava in the elections; Ghanaians are yearning to see Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP in power in order to deal with these problems that John Mahama has visited on them. President Mahama’s administration has been characterised by lies and deceit, I don’t even know the kind of politician he is.”