Change of government will be a drawback - Danny Annan

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the weekend urged the electorates not to take for granted the Government's achievements over the last four years, which had given hope to the nation and won international admiration.

“A change of government especially in the first term of governance would be huge drawback on the national development agenda,” Mr Danny Annan, NDC National Vice Chairman told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.

He said “the nation under the courageous leadership of late President John Evans Atta Mills and President John Dramani Mahama embarked on massive development through hard work, which have set the parameters for accelerated growth, a change of government would be setting the wheels of development backwards."

He encouraged the electorate especially the youth to stand firm and not to yield to falsehood and lies by opposition politicians and vote for the NDC saying “the youth have a secured future in NDC which have given more youthful personalities opportunities to serve in governance instead of its main opponent’s “wait for your turn posture”.

Mr Annan called on the electorates, all party members and first time voters to turn out in their numbers on Election Day to vote massively for President Mahama to continue the enviable legacies of its founder, former President Jerry John Rawlings and late President Mills.

He called on members of the NDC to exercise restraint and work to sustain the unity, stability and cohesion of the country, whilst focusing on the greater target of retaining power to work for the people.

The NDC National Vice Chairman said Election 2012 is about the political choices Ghanaians would make on December 7 and not a "do or die" affair as some have tagged it.

"Belonging to different political parties does not make us enemies, especially when we have demonstrated in several ways that we are one people. No blood should be spilled because of this election. We should listen to all messages being put out there and consider the track records of the parties and individuals and make our choices.

"We should not allow anyone to incite us towards violence, for nothing good would ever come out of a violent situation", he said.

Mr Annan said as the ruling party the NDC has a responsibility to ensure peaceful elections: "We will not incite or intimidate anyone because we want you to judge us (Government) by our track record and what we have done in changing your lives within these eight years."

Mr Annan said the Government of President Mahama would continue to invest more in genuine social dialogue and collective bargaining to ensure that peaceful industrial relations and the orderly and speedy settlement of disputes were achieved.

He recounted that “it was an NDC government that initiated the major law reform process to overhaul, update and codify the country's labour legislations culminating in the passage of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

"With the passage of the Act the expectation of all the social partners was that the necessary flexibility will be injected into the labour market and that industrial relations will move away from the fire-fighting model to a more proactive system aided solidly by bipartite and tripartite co-operation and collaboration".

He said President Mahama and the government would continue to work with organized labour and other social partners to actualize the vision of the Labour Act and to deepen and fine-tune its provisions, if necessary, to give it more impetus and vitality.

Mr Annan said the government shall continue to do well to harness revenues from cocoa, gold, and non-traditional value added exports as well as oil export to motivate workers to increase productivity and grow the economy for the benefit of all.

“NDC under President Mahama deserve another term to accelerate the growth rate and a change of government now will be a drawback for national development.