The Mahama 2024 Campaign has issued a stern warning to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against any attempts to remove or obstruct billboards featuring its flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, or National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidates.
The Campaign team reported that the Chief Executive of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) had taken down a billboard of Mr. Mahama, which was installed by Alliance Media in Tema.
In a statement released on Friday, July 19, the Mahama 2024 Campaign condemned this action, describing it as “unacceptable and a needless provocation aimed at inflaming political tensions in the country.”
“Alliance Media, a legally registered Ghanaian advertising business, has the rightful permission to mount Out-of-Home (OOH) and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) sites nationwide. They diligently pay the required annual fees to the TMA and other assemblies. Therefore, it is utterly unacceptable for the TMA chief executive to tear down their legally placed billboard, which the Mahama Campaign rented and paid for.”
The Mahama 2024 Campaign expects Alliance Media to pursue legal action against the TMA for this incident. They warned the TMA chief executive and the NPP that such provocative acts, which incite political clashes and violence, are harmful to the progress of democracy in Ghana.
“We have noted a similar act in the Ablekuma North constituency, where the NPP blocked a billboard mounted by the NDC parliamentary candidate. And despite the NPP’s unwarranted provocation in various parts of the country, we note that institutions like the National Peace Council and religious and civil society organisations are watching,” they added.
The Mahama 2024 Campaign emphasized that such actions would no longer be tolerated. “If these provocations continue, we will be forced to instruct our members to take necessary measures to prevent such acts across the country.”
They urged the NPP to campaign peacefully and respect the rights of others to promote their political candidates and messages.
“Violence and destruction of property have no place in our political discourse. As President Mahama noted in an opinion piece on Tuesday, there must be “peace and decorum in our political discourse, especially in the run-up to high-stakes elections such as those we face in December this year’,” the Mahama 2024 Campaign further stated.
