‘All die be die’, ‘do or die’ comments: Prof Gyampo speaks on what hurts him the most

A Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana (Legon), Professor Ransford Gyampo has reacted to the All Die be Die and the Do or Die comments made by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and former President John Dramani Mahama respectively.

Speaking on TheKeyPoint aired on TV3 on Saturday, September 11, monitored by GhanaPlus.com, he said what hurts him about the comments was the position taken by the two political parties.

According to him, members of the then ruling party, the National Democratic Congress who spoke against the all die be die  comment have now jumped to the defence of the do or die, while members of the NPP who defended the all die be die were doing the vise visa and questioned what politicians take Ghanaians for.

He explained his disappointment about the two political parties this way.

“What hurt me is the stands that has been taking by the two sides, you see those who condemned all die be die are defending do or die and those who brace all die be die are speaking against do or die and am asking myself what do politicians in Ghana takes as for, I mean do they think that are heads are not properly screw on, can’t we think?,” he said.

NPP and the all die be die comment

Speaking on the current affairs programme, he reacted to the NPP’s defence of the ‘all die be die’ comment this way.

“You display cheaply hypocrisy when you supported or die by die without showing your political repentance so I was expecting him to say that yesterday we said something like that and Ghanaians condemned us , Ghanaians criticized us and in a manner that force our presidential candidate to even 2015 to come out openly to apologize  so we feel it is not good and o if President Mahama want to go on that route, we leave that to the conscience of Ghanaians then you exonerate yourselves and if you want to ahead and criticized then you may have made the admission that you said some and it was wrong you have not than that”.

NDC and ‘do or die’ comment

On the NDC’s reaction to the ‘do or die’ comment, he had this to say;

“Now NDC you took President Akufo Addo to cleaners when he use or die to die, you said all manner of things now we are drawing your attention to the fact that what you said is susceptible to misinterpretation and don’t tell me is English language.  Because it is not your language. English is not our language,let us be truthful to ourselves.”

Akufo Addo on ‘all die be die’

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, the then Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party on February 10, 2011 told party faithfuls  at Koforidua in the Eastern Region to be vigilant and be ready to defend themselves even at the peril of their lives in the 2012 elections.

“They have intentions to intimidate us in 2012 because they believe that we are soft and cowards. If that is the thinking, then we shall see. At least, during the Atiwa by-election, we showed a little of our colours there.

“You must understand that this party was formed by courageous people. Our leaders who formed this party that has now become the biggest political movement in Ghana were not cowards. So in 2012, we need to be courageous because all ‘die be die’. All die be die,” he repeated.

“Ghanaians are crying for a big change and their only hope is the NPP because they know the NPP has done it before so we must work hard to get the party back to power to bring relief to Ghanaians, he told a teeming party faithful at the meeting to discuss the process of the parliamentary primaries of the party.

2024 elections will be a ‘do or die affair

The former President and the 2020 flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) on Tuesday, September 7, while  speaking on the Techiman base Akina FM during a Thank You tour  said the party had learnt lessons from the happenings of the 2020 elections and would do everything to protect their win at the polling stations come 2024.

He said it would be a do or die affair, learning from their 2020 experience.

“We have learnt our lessons from happenings during the 2020 polls. The 2024 elections will be won or lost at the polling station. It will be do-or-die at the polling stations. The right thing must be done during the polls. We will win the elections at the polling station and won’t wait for collation centre results or petition the Supreme Court if aggrieved,” he said.

The two comment had been widely criticised as many believes it could instigate supporters to take laws into their own hands during the elections.

Source: GhanaPlus.com