General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia has filed John Mahama’s nominations forms on his behalf on Wednesday October 7 at the head office of the Electoral Commission (EC).

Mr Asiedu Nketia was accompanied by his deputy Peter Otokunor, and other stalwarts of the party.

The NDC officials were heard chanting and singing “Onyame Sunsum San bra’ to wit: “God’s Holy Spirit must act again.”

He told journalists after filing the forms that “The laws of the Commission indicated that an old register does not become extinct until a new one is finalised and certified.

“We have a situation when we are called upon to file nominations where there is a big doubt as to which register will be the base document for the filing of nominations.”

“It is unfortunate that a mature democracy like Ghana’s, we are having to go into elections as if we haven’t tasted democracy before,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Mahama has said a change in government after the December 7 presidential parliament election is a must.

Mr Mahama said during the launch of the NDC’s campaign on Wednesday October 7 that Ghanaians have a Godly duty to ensure that the governing New Patriotic Party is kicked out of power through the ballot.

He explained that the past three and a half years of the NPP administration has seen the country gone through hell and serious economic challenges due to bad governance.

The former Ghanaian leader said Ghana will be doomed if the NPP stays on for another four years.

This he said, is due to the economic failures seen in the country over the past three and half years of the present administration.

He noted that the present government has presented fake realities regarding the economy and also the standard of living of Ghanaians.

“The battle to transform our dear country starts now. The change starts now . It is our sacred duty to win this battle to deliver true change not for ourselves but for all Ghanaians who deserve to live a better and dignified life.

“Ghana will be doomed if we stay four more years trapped within the fake reality where the NPP propaganda machine paints a rosy picture that everything is perfect while in in reality it is rampant corruption , collapsing businesses and never before seen levels of unemployment and underdevelopment.”

“This government has made no real effort to begin to create an economy that generates prosperity. There has been very little investment in innovation and creativity – the main drivers of prosperity. And we are still witnessing cases of institutional failure.

“To create sustainable and ever-growing prosperity – something we all deserve – it requires building a robust social and economic infrastructure, one that supports creativity, innovation and the production of high value-added products and services.

“The risk of becoming a country trapped in poverty is unfortunately boosted by the fact that while we are fighting hard to consolidate our status as a developing country, the advanced nations are in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, transitioning from a post-industrial world to the world of smart technology – and from a production-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.

“In simple words, the advanced world is moving in one direction, while we are still moving in the direction the world moved 20 or 30 years ago. If we keep moving in this direction, we will become less and less competitive on the global market. And this will condemn us to perpetual stagnation and backwardness. This might happen because our main vulnerability as a nation is a weak infrastructure.

“I have travelled round the country, deep into the hinterlands, meeting chiefs and interactingwith communities and stakeholder groups. Over the last four days, I have been here in the Western North Region, and because of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to stop ongoing cocoa road projects, for example, many of our communities and cocoa growing areas are inaccessible or have very poor road networks.

“Many of these communities are also still without mobile network connectivity, denying the people, students, teachers and health workers access to call and internet services, in this age. This is precisely why, during my first term as President, I took aggressive steps to develop and consolidate our healthcare infrastructure, our educational infrastructure, our transport infrastructure and our digital infrastructure.

“This is the only way to build a resilient nation. Without creating and consolidating a developed infrastructure, no nation can prosper and resist global shocks, like the current COVID-19 pandemic.”