Obviously buoyed by their impressive performance in the first round of the 2008 general elections, the Ashanti Regional hierarchy of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dared the flag bearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, over his decision to augment his campaign team by introducing Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen to the Ashanti Region. The Ashanti Regional NDC hierarchy says it is ready to match the ruling party boot for boot in the region, and to challenge the NPP for votes in the second round of the general elections, scheduled to take place on the 28th of December, 2008.

A leading member of the NDC campaign team in the Ashanti Region, Mr. Afrifah Yamoah Ponkoh, has stated that whether the former Trade and Industry Minister leads the campaign in the region or not, the NDC was battle ready to meet the ruling party squarely in the second round of the elections and would be hoping to improve its fortunes. The opposition party put up a spirited performance in last Sunday’s elections, retaining their three parliamentary seats and improving their voting percentage in the ruling party’s stronghold of the Ashanti region, by obtaining over 35.5% of the total votes in the region.

The relatively impressive performance of the NDC in the region, coupled with what some observers described as voter apathy amongst residents in the region, have been cited as reasons which denied the ruling party’s flag bearer a one touch victory and eventually pushed the elections to the second round. A cursory assessment of the total valid votes cast in the region last Sunday, revealed that Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo lost a total of 183,806 votes, compared to what his predecessor, Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor obtained in 2004, an anomaly which was attributed to low turn out and lack of education in the voting process, which resulted in the region recording huge number of rejected ballot papers.

This situation has therefore compelled the flag bearer of the party to reshuffle his campaign team by dispatching his main competitor in the party’s last year’s primary, Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, to reinforce and add vigour to the ruling party’s campaign in the Ashanti Region. But the opposition party is less disturbed about the news and has already declared its intentions to compete strongly with the NPP for votes in the Ashanti Region. Speaking on Angel fm, the NDC leading member warned the NPP to prepare for fireworks because the second round of the election would be a keenly contested one. He stated that the NPP should not attribute their relatively poor showing in the Ashanti Region to voting apathy, but they should accept that the people were tired of their insensitive policies which had only aggravated the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.

According to him, the NPP government has failed to meet the expectations of the numerous Ghanaians, particularly those in the Ashanti Region, who voted for them in 2000 and retained them in power in 2004, adding that for the NDC to increase their voting percentage in the region was a clear indication that they wanted change.”

Meanwhile, a leading member of the NPP and the Campaign Spokesperson for Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, Lawyer Owusu Afriyie, has been explaining why the ruling party would achieve a major victory in the second round of the elections, saying there were about 375,000 newly registered voters most of whom are students in the Polytechnics and the Senior High Schools, who could not participate in the voting process because they were engaged in examinations. From this 375,000 votes, Lawyer Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as “Sir John” indicated that the NPP would obtain about 320,000 votes, representing about 90% to give Nana Addo the much needed victory. He further stated that the NPP would embark on a vigorous campaign to reduce voters’ indifference and encourage them to go out in their numbers to cast their ballots.