Sunday,
December 16, 2012
We continue to focus attention on
the NPP at this point in the post-election assessment of our national life. The
threat to national stability posed by the riotous behaviour of its members
still persists.
Likewise, the public posturing
and churning out of inconsistent claims by its leaders has reached an alarming
level to warrant further analysis. It is too ridiculous for belief that these
people just can’t settle on any convincing lie to tell the whole world to back
their rejection of the outcome of the Presidential elections.
All they have been doing so far
is giving us conflicting figures and ratcheting up their thirst for violence.
We acknowledge the fact that they
haven’t so far included the Parliamentary elections, which goes a long way to
make their claims lopsided and woefully unpersuasive, at least, if their main
beef is about the outcome of the general elections.
Why leave out the Parliamentary
elections? How certain could they be that in this climate of “skirt-and-blouse”
voting, anybody who voted for a Presidential Candidate would automatically
endorse the party’s Parliamentary candidate or vice versa? The results speak
volumes.
But the NPP leaders have focused
on only the Presidential elections, and are expending energy and resources combing
the constituencies and prowling for anything they can grab as evidence to
support their wild allegations of rigging. They have come up with figures and
assumptions that are not worthier than the efforts put into getting them.
While insisting that they are
democrats who would use laid-down legal procedures to seek redress, they have
been quick to mobilize their supporters to visit mayhem on Accra.
After attempting to paralyze life
in Accra without success, they have shifted grounds to their own stronghold,
Kumasi, to demonstrate their anger and frustration at the outcome of the polls.
Let’s take note of the two emotive words—“anger” and “frustration”—catalyzing
their protests.
The NPP leaders are angry at the
election results and have been quick to blame the EC and the NDC for colluding
to rob their Akufo-Addo of victory. Their conduct shows that they are
frustrated as well. And they have so far managed to spin all kinds of yarns to
get the backing of their followers.
I don’t see why they should be
angry because there is no cause for it. Their defeat at the polls was
self-created, which they should have come to terms with to tone down on their
sentiments. When self-created problems cause electoral defeat, there is no need
for anger. It falls for sober reflection and better planning for another day.
Furthermore, those entrusted with
the responsibility of organizing, superintending over, and winding down the
elections reported that the elections were free, fair, and transparent. The
Electoral Commission Headquarters received certified results and announced them
as the true reflection of the voters’ will. What is the justification for
anger?
I can accept the fact that the
NPP leaders and their supporters are genuinely frustrated because their dream of
putting Akufo-Addo in power has ended up in smoke. It vaporized, leaving them
with no option but the tailspin into which they have spun themselves ever
since.
Their venting of vengeance on innocent party rivals and threats to seek
redress at the Supreme Court are the logical manifestations of that frustration,
misplaced though it is. The sharp disappointment at losing the Presidential
elections is too much for them to contain.
As they continue to swing from
one end of the spectrum to the other, coming out every day with new brands of lies,
they water down the force of any arguments they may be advancing at this stage
to support their intentions. At least, the vacillation is so glaring as to make
me wonder if these people really know how to fight their cause effectively. One
lie here, another there, doesn’t speak well of them.
So,
did they have any substance in hand before rushing to accuse the EC, the NDC,
and the media of manipulating the election results to favour President Mahama? It
was after making the allegation to justify their rejection of the results that they
were began looking for data to proceed to court. So, if they didn’t have the
data, how could they conclude that the election results were fabricated?
A
friend of mine who chanced upon what they were bandying about as evidence of
rigging told me this: “I got hold of a copy of their contrived
evidence and couldn’t stop laughing at the preposterousness of the whole plot.
Having seen the so-called evidence on whose merit they intend to pursue their
case, it should be shocking if they actually proceed to court.”
I
wouldn’t have regarded my friend’s viewpoints as worth my bother had the NPP
leaders themselves not already given me cause to doubt their integrity.
When
they came out with specifics to confirm their allegation of rigging, they
wavered to the extent as to confuse the public. Beginning with the claim that
as many as 15,000 votes were found to have been added to President Mahama’s
tally, they upped it subsequently to 36,000, then to 100,000, and then over one
million (as the General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie) insisted yesterday.
As
if that’s not enough to confirm the NPP’s inconsistencies, the Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has added more. According to him, the party’s findings
have so far revealed that over 150,000 votes were added to the fortunes of
President John Mahama.
Not
to be outdone in this vacillation, the party’s Communications
Director, Nana Akomea, says the party has completed gathering figures from
20,000 polling centers out of 26,000 across the country, and it is confident that
its claims of electoral fraud would be vindicated.
Thus, “evidence
gathered so far could change the outcome of the elections.” The party is
currently auditing the results of the presidential elections in order to
challenge its outcome at the Supreme Court, he said.
Alright. Our ears are now stopped
to all these wild claims. We are waiting for nothing else but the move to the
Supreme Court. But wait a minute. That may not happen so soon because the NPP
has added a new twist to its case.
The
NPP says it has contracted two IT experts from Kumasi to probe the Parliamentary
results as well. I have a hunch here. Too many attempts to either
complicate issues or just to obfuscate them. There seems to be an adroit means
to put too many issues out there with which to either buy time or confuse the
public. It is an exit strategy, I daresay.
Will
the NPP first proceed to court with the suit on only the Presidential elections
or will it add that of the Parliamentary elections too? Or go it one after the
other? If it is now hiring IT specialists to process those results to know what
happened, it may take more time than expected for the party to begin its legal
battle with the EC. Is anybody trying to hide behind technicalities here to
outwit the public?
Here
is another aspect of what I consider as an intricate exit strategy. According
to the NPP, “the stage is set for its massive demonstration on Tuesday during
which a petition will be presented to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.”
Eureka!!
A
petition to be presented to the Asantehene? What for? In protest at the party’s
own acts that have destabilized public order and peace in contravention of the
Kumasi Peace Pact? Or will that petition be on the party’s findings concerning
the alleged rigging of the elections? Why the Asantehene?
What
do they expect the Asantehene to do with their petition, anyway? Forward it to
the government or to the international community? What for?
Or,
read it and use it as the basis for an invitation to the NPP leaders for a
meeting at which to appeal to them to rescind their intended court action—in
the interest of national peace and stability?
I
consider this last part as a possibility, and the main objective that the NPP
leaders are chasing. With the Otumfuo’s intervention, they will then find good
reason to drop the matter and save face. More importantly, hiding behind the
Otumfuo’s intervention will provide enough justification for them to escape the
anger of their own followers.
They
seem to be preparing the grounds for a good, cunning defence. This is where the
Otumfuo has to be circumspect in his dealings with such frustrated politicians.
He has a lot to gain from not associating himself with them than from becoming
the shock absorber that they want to turn him into.
History
tells me a lot about why the NPP leaders will gravitate toward the Otumfuo,
which I will explore in my next opinion piece.
Till
then, we wait for more yarns to be spun by these NPP leaders as they put up new
smokescreens behind which they will hide to manipulate their unwitting
followers. For the majority of Ghanaians who gave their mandate to President
Mahama, there is nothing to worry about but to sit back and watch this “Concert
Party” performance by the fallen human elephants. In times like these, the
circus could provide a good respite.
I
shall return…
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