The sins of Akufo-Addo and Bawumia are still fresh, It's time for real change to reset the nation—GFL

Mr. Abraham Koomson, Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), on Monday declared that it was time for real change in governance to reset the country for accelerated development.

He said, "Election 2024 offers Ghanaians a real opportunity to once again change government through the ballot box... This is the time to bring back the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to take over from the retarded ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).”

Mr. Koomson, in an interview in Tema, said the event clearly shows that the NPP is tired, lost focus, and deserves to take the back seat. He again challenged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to tell the electorates the truth and “stop the wild propagandist promises.”

“People would be disappointed should they make another mistake and vote based on these promises. If Dr. Bawumia has laudable ideas on how to transform the economy, what stops him from assisting the government in which he is currently serving as the Head of the Economic Management Team with the magic wand over the past eight years?

“The flowery ideas and promises cannot stand the test of time; it’s merely campaign platform talks aimed at wooing votes, as we have all experienced over the past eight years.

“Don’t forget in both Elections 2016 and 2020 Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia promised us heaven on earth but ended up landing us in the lands of haircuts, debt restructuring, the collapse of Indigenous banks, economic recession, and under the ampit of the International Monitory Fund.

“Now they have moved the cedi from GHC4.00 to a dollar in 2016 to the current almost GHC17.00 to a dollar, loaded us with nuisance taxes, which is collapsing industries, pensioners have lost their investments, fuel prices are in the skies, and now food prices increase daily.

“The sins of the NPP, President Akufo-Addo, and Dr. Bawumia are too numerous to enumerate; they are fresh in front of us. We must not make any mistake again, but the good news is that the Ghanaian electorate is now exposed to the deceptive politics of NPP politicians.”

Mr. Koomson expressed reservations about conditions in most markets and transport terminals (stations) across the country, stressing that even though these centres serve as sources of income for many families, they lack basic necessities for human habitation.

Meanwhile, the GFL Secretary General has reiterated that vigilance must be the watchword of all democratic forces, especially the main opposition NDC, governance bodies, security, civil society organizations, and Ghanaians in general.

He noted that the grounds for this year’s election are very slippery as the NPP has adopted covert and overt political means to win a third-term bid to break the eight.

The GFL Secretary General therefore called on opposition parties to be extra vigilant and guard against rigging during the December polls.

"Prevention of all forms of rigging requires the same level of vigilance from all stakeholders in the elections," he said, urging political parties and the general public to exercise caution at every stage of the electoral process.

"If political parties and the rest of the public are not vigilant enough at all levels of the electoral process, there could be possible unorthodox practices of some electorate and party members to interfere with the elections," he stated.

Mr. Koomson reminded the political parties—particularly the NDC—that they must encourage their people to participate fully in the voting, vote-counting, results-collation and announcement processes.

"It is not acceptable for political parties to just sit back and complain about the election process. To successfully stop election tampering, all parties involved must work together."

In order to minimize the number of foul shouts, the GFL Secretary General further urged the EC to host workshops for all staff members who will be working at the various polling places.

"A registered voter should never offer their voter ID card to anyone," he added. "Not to political party leaders nor to anyone for that matter."