Deputy Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Osman Ayariga has assured the party’s flagbearer John Dramani Mahama has the solution “for the 1.9 million unemployed youth of this country”.

He said John Mahama’s government will, in fact, be that one that will “put the youth at the helm of affairs”.

He was happy to note the NDC was warmly received at their campaign launch in Tamale, Northern Region, and warned the electorate, nationwide, not to be swayed by gifts of “rice – five kilos – and one litre oil” and others this year.

Speaking to Lily Mohammed of GHOne TV, Osman Ayariga praised former President Mahama as a “transformational leader” whose proposed “24-hour economy,” among other policies, will revolunise Ghana “and reset this country”.

Tamale was “perfect, epic, splendid. I mean it was beautiful and I want to thank the good people of the North, especially Tamale, for coming out in their numbers, organically, to grace the occasion of the campaign launch.

“We’re gonna hit the grounds running. We’ve already started campaigning. We're gonna start engaging communities.

“And of course, we are going to sell the good message of John Dramani Mahama and the NDC; not only the 24-hour economy, which is a game changer and that's what we're looking at. How to reset this country, reboot this country, and take it back to its days of glory and not what we are currently experiencing.

“Of course, we are looking at how we can find jobs for the 1.9 million unemployed youth of this country.

“We're looking at how we can put the youth at the helm of affairs; how we can put the youth at the center of governance; how the governance is going to be about the youth, for the youth, and by the youth. That is what we're looking at.

“I mean receiving rice and oil is not what we should be looking at. We should be looking at the future of the youth, the future of the country, and our own future.

“If you take that bag of rice – five kilos – and one litre of oil, by the next two days you’d have finished eating the rice. You’d have finished eating the oil, too, and then you’d come back to your current status.

“So we should be looking at a leader who is out to transform Ghana. Look at the leader who is out to help us build a country you and I want. A leader who is transformational, and who has done it before; who is here as a result of his experience and not an experiment like Dr Bawumia who says we should try him. We’ve tried Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when he came begging us.

“Yes, and you’d bear me out that John Mahama’s four years is far, far, far better than the eight years of Akufo-Addo. At least he didn't build the biggest hole with US$58 million. We didn't find a Minister of Sanitation who was expected to clean the country, and especially Accra, with one point something million US dollars under her bed.

“So, you know, we can go on and go on and go on; considering the uncompleted infrastructural [and] developmental projects, the way the economy has been managed abysmally, etc. The good people of this country are experiencing it and you are experiencing it, I am experiencing it.

“You understand. The high level of unemployment, the general despondency, the general desperation, the hunger and the anger in the young people and the old people as well.

“They have seen it. They have tasted water and they have tasted alcohol, and they know the difference. They have tasted John Dramani Mahama, they have tasted the NPP, and they know that it's better for them to get back to John Dramani Mahama. That is what the people of this country will do on the 7th of December 2024, when I believe you will also vote and I believe clear in your conscience and undoubtedly you will vote for John Dramani Mahama because you're also a Ghanaian and you're experiencing the hardship,” the lawyer said.  

Ghana goes to the polls on Saturday, December 7, 2024.