PNC wants NPP support in a runoff

Dr Edward Mahama, the flag bearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), has urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to support the PNC to form the next government in the event of a run-off.
Predicting a run off in the December polls in an interaction with the media yesterday, he said that “our agenda is to set a run off and it is now time for the NPP to support the PNC to come to power as we did for the them in the 2000 general election”.
Dr Mahama was answering questions from the press at the Kotoka International Airport on his return from a one month visit to the United States, where he attended a conference on a US Africa Sister City Programme in Michigan.
He said the PNC had over the years worked very hard and had been consistent with its messages, and that the people of Ghana had come to appreciate that the PNC was the best choice.
He was optimistic that there would certainly be a second round because according to him the PNC would secure a large chunk of the votes, and would be one of the two parties to contest in the second round.
Dr Mahama who described his US trip as a working vacation, said he used the occasion to hold discussions with some of the leading members of the PNC and other Ghanaians in the US.
He said the discussion centred mostly on the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL) because most of the people he met were interested in participating in elections in Ghana.
According to the PNC flag bearer, Ghanaians in the US said although the NPP administration had passed the bill into law, the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were playing politics with it.
He was of the view that for the proper implementation of the ROPAL, the NPP and NDC antagonism must give way to a PNC administration that would roll out a red carpet for Ghanaians abroad to either come down and participate in the development process or cast their votes outside Ghana.
He said he supported the ROPAL because Ghanaians living outside were contributing immensely to the development and sustenance of the economy, and that they deserved to be part of the decision making process.
Dr Mahama said aside this his administration would roll out policies that would attract Ghanaians living outside to either visit regularly or relocate to Ghana and help with their expertise and resources.
Some of the policies he promised to put in place to attract Ghanaians living outside would include waiving duties on imports to enable them to save enough capital to invest in the country.
“The reason most Ghanaians living outside find it difficult to invest in the country is simply because of the huge taxes they are made to pay when they are repatriating resources into the country”, he stated, and promised to make their integration in the country very flexible when he is given the nod to lead the country, come the December 7, 2008 election.
He said his visit to the US afforded him the opportunity to tell Ghanaians outside, “what we in Ghana expect of them” and advised them to keep in touch with relatives here in Ghana.
On his campaign strategy, Dr Mahama said money was not number one on his list but winning the goodwill and support of the people was the most important thing on the agenda of his campaign team.
According to him, he is not enthusiastic about just gaining power but the programmes he intended to implement when he took over the governance of the country from the incumbent, adding that their message was to tell people what the PNC would do, and based on that he believed the electorate would vote for the party.
On his running mate, he said he had three people in mind who he hoped to present to his party’s national executive in a few days time but was quick to add that he did not believe that because he was a southerner his running mate must be a southerner.