Former President, John Dramani Mahama, has disclosed that he has been taken out of context on his “do or die” comment and would not retract it.
The former President said he still stands by his comment that Election 2024 will be a “do or die” affair despite the huge public backlash he has recieved.
The 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said the people taking him out of context do not understand the comment which he described as, an English idiom
“They don’t understand do or die. Do or die is an English idiom. In Africa, we have many proverbs and we sometimes don’t say things in the straight format; we use proverbs. In English, we have idiomatic expressions. Those who left school early don’t understand idiomatic expressions. Do or die means a critical assignment you have and so you must do the needful or perish.
“And so, I won’t retract. The next election for NDC is going to be a do or die affair”.
John Mahama
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Party members being urged to be vigilante
Explaining what he meant by the statement, John Mahama said he was urging his party members not to wait and go back to the Supreme Court, because whatever that has to be done at the polling stations and collation centres must be done.
“I’m telling all our party executives that you must be at the polling station to make sure that the right thing is done. Don’t abdicate your responsibility at that level and expect that after somebody has stolen the election,;we’ll go to Supreme Court to see if they would turn the election for us, they won’t do it.
“The election will be won or lost at the polling station, so at the polling station, it will be ‘do or die’. I did not say ‘All die be die’, I said it will be do or die, because the right thing must be done”.
John Mahama
Mahama’s “Do or Die” comment
The former President, John Dramani Mahama, yesterday, Tuesday September 7, 2021, stated that the National Democratic Congress will be very vigilant at the polling stations during the 2024 elections.
Speaking on a Techiman-based radio station as part of his ‘Thank You’ tour, he stated that the 2020 elections taught the NDC that elections can only be won at the polling stations, thus they will not let their guards down.
“We were clearly robbed but we accepted the verdict for the sake of peace. But I want to state here that the next elections would be won or lost at the polling station. So, at the polling station it will be do or die. I am not saying ‘all die be die’. I’m saying it will be do or die because the right thing must be done.
“We will do everything to ensure that the election is free and fair. We will not cheat the NPP and we don’t expect anyone to cheat us either. Let the elections be peaceful and fair”.
John Mahama
Mr. Mahama, further noted that the party would not wait for the results from the collation centre or the Supreme Court but would win the polls at the voting centre.
