Former President John Mahama has said he will not retract his ‘do or die’ comment in reference to the 2024 general elections.

On Tuesday, 7 September 2021, the 2020 flag bearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said during his ‘Thank You’ tour that: “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,” he told Techiman-based Akina FM.

Spokespersons of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) have lashed out at the former president for his remark.

Also, political pundit Ben Ephson described Mr Mahama’s comment as unnecessary warmongering.

In a response to his critics, Mr Mahama told Sunyani-based Moonlite FM that: “'Do or die’ is an English idiom; those who left school early don’t understand what an idiomatic expression is”.

“‘Do or die’ means a critical assignment that you have and you must do the needful or perish”, Mr Mahama explained.

“And, so, you must do the needful. So, what I mean is that NDC will not wait to go to the Supreme Court again, so, we have to do what is required of us at the polling station”, he added. 

“And, so, I don’t retract”.

“The next election for NDC is going to be a ‘do or die’ affair”, he stressed, adding: “You must do the right thing at the polling station”.

“And, so I’m telling all our party executives that you must be at that polling station and make sure the right thing is done”, Mr Mahama noted.

He continued: “You must be at the collation centre and make sure the right thing is done”.

“Don’t abdicate your responsibility at that level and expect that after somebody has stolen the election, you go to the Supreme Court to see if they will turn the election for you; they won’t do it”, he said.

“So, I haven’t retracted my words”.

“It’s a ‘do or die’ affair. It’s an English idiom. Everybody should look it out in the dictionary. It’s different from ‘all die be die’. I say it’s a ‘do or die’ affair”.

According to him, the “NDC must man the polling stations, they must man the collation centres, make sure the pink sheets are correct, make sure we get the right results and everything because, maybe, somebody else will become the flag bearer and he may say he will go the Supreme Court but if I become the NDC flag bearer again, I’m not going to the Supreme Court”.

“We must win at the polling station and the collation centre then the EC would have no option than to declare who the true winner is”, Mr Mahama insisted.

“2024 is a critical election both for them and for us and I’m saying that for NDC, it’s a ‘do or die’ affair”, he emphasised.