Our victory not out of apathy, it’s a ‘repudiation’ of Akufo-Addo – Bawah Mogtari

Joyce Bawah Mogtari, special aide to President-elect John Dramani Mahama, has declared that the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) landslide victory in the 2024 elections is not due to voter apathy but a clear repudiation of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Mahama secured a decisive victory with 6,328,397 votes representing 56.55% of the valid votes cast, defeating his primary rival, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who garnered 4,657,304 votes representing 41.61% in this year’s general elections, marking a significant comeback to the presidency after his previous term ended in 2017.

In an interview on Face to Face on Channel One News on Tuesday, December 10, Mogtari emphasised the overwhelming support the NDC received across the country.

“Nobody will take this win away from us, nobody will share in this glory with us…We have won in excess of 50+1(%), 1.7 million votes and counting, entirely annihilated them in parliament and in the presidential elections. How can that just be because of apathy?” Mogtari stated.

She criticised the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) strategy, which relied heavily on the Ashanti region, and highlighted the NDC’s success in winning 13 out of 16 regions.

“The truth is that when they told you that we had the two-region strategy, did you ask them why they thought so? Because they believed that the whole of the Ashanti region would come out as usual, deny the NDC any opportunity at democracy, and vote for them. We have 16 regions, we have won 13 out of 16 and even in the three we still did better than we’ve ever done,” she added.

Mogtari pointed out that Mahama’s performance in the Ashanti region, where he polled 700,000 votes and counting, and the NDC’s near 190 seats in parliament, demonstrate a significant shift in voter sentiment.

“It is actually a repudiation of Akufo-Addo and Bawumia. Look at his backyard in the North East, three, split in the middle. He (Bawumia) couldn’t even deliver his own region,” she remarked.