It’s fast becoming a norm that disgruntle presidential candidates in Ghana make ‘hard caution’ as a way of calling for vigilance after presidential elections and election petitions. The recent statement from the former President H E John Mahama has raised some attention on his ‘do or die’ comments. Whereas others are condemning and calling for retraction, others think it’s a harmless statement. This trend has occurred before where the NPP and its supporters defended an ‘all die be die’ comment and the NDC attacking the then presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.
Today it’s the turn of the NDC and its supporters to defend the ‘do or die’ comment of the former President. The President said on a Techiman based station Akina FM, that ‘the 2020 elections were rigged for the NPP. We have however accepted the ruling of the Supreme Court for the sake of peace’. He proceeded ‘However, come 2024, the NDC will be extra vigilant at the polling stations because that is where the election but was robbed of victory’ he continued ‘so at the polling station, it will be do or die. I am not saying all die be die. I’m saying it will be ‘do or die’ because the right thing must be done’. He, immediately, added that he is not saying ‘all die be die’ to substantiate the difference between his call and that of President Nana Addo. This last statement sorts to justify the call for ‘do or die’.
The wild discussion had the NPP, its supporters and a cross section of the public accuse the former president of inciting violence. NDC and its supporters on the other hand are making a wild defense of the statement. The critiques say that its karma that has hit the former president. We recall that the all die be die statement got serious critiques from President Mahama. He used it as campaign messages even when the then candidate Nana Addo had explained the intent of his statement and apologized if it infringed a section of the public. Today, Mr Mahama is in similar situation where he is under pressure to retract the statement. The NPP’s through its general secretary have released official statements charging the former president to withdraw his statement. The NDC on the other hand thinks that the statement was harmless and came at the right time. They, as NDC understands perfectly what the former President is saying. The Communication director, Sammy Gyamfi, on Good morning, Ghana show on Metro Tv, insisted that the president was asking party people to be vigilant, unlike the all die be die that charged for violence.
Most people agree with Dr Okoe Boye, former MP and Deputy minister of Health, who stated that a statesman of his stature has many following with different abilities to interpret things and hence the statement is dangerous. This could let some voters disagree with any results that’s not in their favor at the polling station. A lot are recommending that President Mahama should withdraw his statement.
Some critiques of the ‘do or die’ statement also claim that President Mahama is a peaceful man and hence they are waiting for the former president to withdraw his ‘do or die’ statement as president Akufo Addo did with his all die be die. They urge the public to criticize the do or die statement as they did with the ‘all die be die’.
