He said the statement has been misinterpreted to mean violence.
Speaking to delegates of the NDC in the Fanteakwa South Constituency in the Eastern Region on Wednesday, Mr Mahama said: “The 2024 general election is not a joke, that is why I said it is ‘do or die’. Some have twisted the do-or-die comment that we intend to inflict wounds on people with machetes, no, that is not do-or-die. Do-or die means we have to work hard to win the elections at all cost. It doesn’t mean we are going to inflict machete wounds on people.”
Earlier today, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) filed a petition to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service to get John Mahama arrested for the ‘do or die’ comments.
The NPP, led by it National Organizer, Nana Boakye said Mr Mahama had on many occasions described the 2024 general elections as one of “do or die” for the NDC.
The party said “It is, in fact, a no secret that the NDC has always resorted to violence and intimidation against their opponents during the conduct of general elections, and this was summed up by their 2024 presumptive presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama. He has stated emphatically that: ‘NDC has revolutionary root, and that when it comes to unleashing violence, nobody can beat us [NDC] in unleashing violence’.”
The governing party also said “Other leading members of the NDC, including Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the national chairman of the Party, have made similar threatening and malicious comments. Indeed, following his election as National Chairman, Asiedu Nketiah stated in his victory speech that, the NDC would fight the 2024 general elections to win a second independence for Ghana, and that, they are prepared to sacrifice everything including their lives for an NDC victory.”
This comes a day after the NDC’s Dircetor Legal Affairs Abraham Amaliba also petitioned the IGP to arrest Agric Minister Bryan Acheampong.