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Mr John Dramani Mahama, Presidential Candidate, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Friday resumed his campaign tour of the Ashanti Region, suspended last week in honour of former President Jerry John Rawlings.

Former President Rawlings, the founder of the NDC, died after a short illness on 12 November 2020, aged 73.

A statement issued by Mr James Agyenim-Boateng, copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra on Friday, said prior to the suspension of his campaign, the NDC Presidential Candidate was given a rousing welcome in many constituencies when he began a six-day campaign tour of the Region last week.

The statement recounted that Mr Mahama addressed the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace and catalogued a long list of development projects, including the all new Kejetia Market in Kumasi, delivered by NDC government.

He said the support base of his party in the Region notwithstanding, the NDC’s record of development projects in the Ashanti Region made the governing party’s record pale into insignificance.

Mr Mahama also said the NDC appreciated the votes it got in the Region and urged electorates there to base their voting decision on the record of the two major parties.

The statement said “Mr Mahama’s campaign was subsequently given a further boost with an overwhelming outpour of support when he visited the local automotive hub at Suame Magazine to assure workers there that he would do everything to protect the jobs of auto mechanics, fitters, auto body works specialists, sprayers and car air condition repairers and spare parts dealers.”

“It is unacceptable that the employment of hundreds of thousands of people in the local automotive industry is threatened simply because government is encouraging the establishment of a car assembly plant which will not employ more than one hundred people.

"Government can become the major source of business for the car assembly plant while we protect the jobs of Ghanaians in the used car value chain,” he said.