Former Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama has cautioned that the New Patriotic Party will suffer another electoral defeat in 2012 if party leadership at all levels fail to manage the forthcoming Parliamentary primaries.
He admitted that the divisiveness that characterized the selection of Parliamentary candidates for the 2008 elections was a major cause of the party’s defeat and called the need to avoid such a mistake as the 2012 campaign had just begun.
He therefore implored the NPP leadership to deepen the party’s democratic credentials by allowing all potential candidates who have declared their intentions to contest the primaries without alienation.
The former Vice President also pleaded guilty that the attitude of some government functionaries including DCE’s toward party supporters caused the NPP’s defeat in 2008 and concluded that they have all learnt their lessons in opposition.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama was briefing the media at his private residence located at the SSNIT flats in Tamale after visiting the Salaga, Bimbila and Wulensi districts as part of his second campaign tour of the Northern Region.
He explained that the motive behind his early campaign in the Northern Regions of Ghana ahead of the 2012 elections was to repackage the party and make it attractive to the electorates.
“Party unity and fraternization is the key to our victory in 2012 and that is why I have embarked on this early campaign in northern Ghana to interact with the chiefs and people who benefitted from the massive development the Kufour led NPP administration brought to their communities during the last eight years” he stressed.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama was optimistic that the NPP will wrestle power from the NDC in 2012 in view of what he described as “The untold hardships” bestowed on Ghanaians by the government with specific reference to the fuel hikes.
The former Vice President however cautioned party supporters against complacency and admonished that the party needed sacrifice and hard work to win the 2012 elections.
He was grateful to the party leadership and supporters in the Bimbila Constituency for their high spirit of unity and encouraged them to retain the seat in 2012.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama without mincing words challenged government to stop trumpeting on the decline in inflation and rather concentrate on making life meaningful for the ordinary Ghanaian.