The Deputy National Organiser of the NDC, Mr Koku Anyidoho, who launched the campaign with a rally at Bimbilla, the capital of the Nanumba North District, said: “We will continue to do politics with decorum. For us, politics is about the contestation of ideas and not a contest of punches or fisticuffs”.

The pledge

Mr Anyidoho said President John Dramani Mahama had done more than enough for the country in terms of infrastructure development and the delivery of social services on all fronts.

He, therefore, said the people of Ghana would renew his mandate for the economic transformation of the country that would bring peace, prosperity and wealth to every Ghanaian.

He, however, called on all party supporters to intensify their campaign to ensure total victory for the party in the 2016 polls.

Unity

He also entreated party supporters to go out with the party’s campaign message of bringing economic transformation now that the party’s manifesto had been launched to ensure a resounding victory for the party.

He further entreated party supporters to conduct their campaigns with decorum and respect in line with the laid down rules of engagement as spelt out by the party, coupled with the peaceful nature of the party as demonstrated by the late President John Evans Atta Mills, and added that the NDC was a symbol of peace, stability and development of the country.

Mr Anyidoho also urged party supporters, especially the youth, to always conduct themselves peacefully and not to react to the least provocations by opponents of the party.

You should at no point take the laws into your hands for the laws will deal with those who break them,” he said.

 “Let’s respect state institutions and believe state institutions will act in the supreme interest of mother Ghana,” he observed.

The leader of the Northern Regional Campaign Task Force for election 2016, Alhaji Mohammed Limuna, the Minister of Food and Agriculture and a former Northern Regional Minister, also pledged that the party would wage a peaceful campaign and the good works of the government and President Mahama would speak for itself.

“Let all sides of the political campaign be without intimidation for the sake of peace needed in the country,” he told the crowd.

Recapture all lost seats

Alhaji Limuna added that the party had developed a campaign strategy to recapture all the seats it lost in the 2012 general election and also double the Presidential votes in the 2016 elections to enable the party to retain power in the December polls to continue with the development projects that would enhance the economy.

Key among the seats the NDC has targeted to recapture in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections is the Bimbilla constituency, which it lost to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2012 general election.

Currently, the Bimbilla seat is being occupied by Mr Dominic Nitiwul, the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, who is also contesting the seat for the NPP in the 2016 general election for the third time.

Mr Nitiwul snatched the seat from the ruling NDC in the 2008 election and retained it for the NPP in the 2012 election but the ruling NDC has vowed as part of its campaign strategy to wrest the seat from the deputy minority leader.

Alhaji Limuna added that the launch of the party’s regional campaign in Bimbilla formed party of the party’s bid to recapture the constituency.

The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Abdallah Abubakari, who is also the NDC parliamentary candidate for Walewale, reiterated the call on all party supporters to be focused and resolute and not to be distracted by the vile propaganda being waged against the party by its opponents.

The occasion was also used to introduce all the parliamentary candidates contesting on the ticket of the NDC for the 2016 general election in the Northern Region.

Target

The party has set a target to win all the 31 parliamentary seats in the region and also to double President Mahama’s votes.