Former President John Dramani Mahama says he has drawn lessons from his defeat in the 2016 elections which will make him a better president if his party and Ghanaians give him the nod.
“I am running because even though we did not succeed in 2016, I learnt many lessons and yes, there is benefit from failure”, he told the media at the Trade Fair Centre after the submission of presidential nomination forms at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) headquarters on Monday.
“And so after much deliberations, I believe that I am even better prepared now to carry the standard of the NDC, and the great political tradition for which it stands, into the presidential election in 2020”, he added.
The former president is facing keen competition from seven aspirants of which three, as of the time of filing the report, had filed their nominations ahead of the primary slated for January 26, 2019.
Admitting that there were difficulties with some policies his party introduced though well intended, former President Mahama noted that those difficulties and lessons drawn from them, would inform formulation and implementation of future policies, saying “we have learnt and will do even better.
“The ‘new John Mahama’, will not engage in empty promises, sloganeering, populism, convenient lies and grand deception in my campaign since every government faces challenges, the best way to deal with them is to be honest and truthful to the citizenry.
“I, John Dramani Mahama, respect Ghanaians to lie and pretend our situation is good when it is otherwise, I don’t promise, I prove, I deliver!, the DNA of the NDC, is a combination of “Wo kum apem, apem beba” (If you kill one thousand, one thousand will appear) and “Never say die until the bones are rotten”, the party will forge ahead, remain focus and the decision to seek a return to office was not taken in isolation but through broad consultation with all levels of the party in addition to stakeholders outside the party.
To cure the apathy and other factors accounted for the 2016 electoral defeat, the former president noted that party structures would be used as well as explores innovative ways to resource the party through transparency and accountability.
“Together, we will present to our countrymen and women a renewed and reinvigorated NDC, ready and able to lead the country beyond economic hardships,” former President Mahama pointed out.
BY TIMES REPORTER
