Tuesday,
December 18, 2012
The
NPP says it is optimistic of victory at the Supreme Court when it presents its
case against the Electoral Commission, the NDC, and the media over the just-ended
general elections. I don’t know what that “victory” means or will translate
into, long after the President-elect would have been installed in office to
begin his full-fledged four-year first term and lay the foundation for a second
term at the 2016 polls.
Where
does Akufo-Addo’s term come in? If instating him at the Presidency is that “victory,”
then, the NPP leaders are in for a harvest of woes. So certain are they of
winning their case that they aren’t preparing themselves for anything else just
as they did before the elections. Their claim that they will accept the Supreme
Court’s verdict is mere hot air. Those who cry wolf at will make it difficult
for them to be believed.
As
we wait for its legal team to head to the Supreme Court in search of seek
redress, we remain baffled by many issues concerning this particular court
case. We are not bothered by the NPP’s decision to go to court. After all, that’s
their constitutional right.
What
bothers us is the purpose the NPP seeks to achieve. In one breath, we are told
that the party wants the Supreme Court to ascertain the genuineness and
validity of the polls. Inferring from the confident posture and claims of
incontrovertible evidence at the party’s disposal, we know that the leaders
will urge the Supreme Court to annul the results.
Will
that annulment affect the entire gamut of the 2012 Presidential and
Parliamentary elections nationwide and a new date set for new elections? Who
will be out-of-the-mind to put Ghanaians through this torture, anyway?
Or
will the Supreme Court simply rule that the evidence before it made the
elections incredible and invalidate in only some constituencies and call for a
re-run of the elections in only the identifiable constituencies where the NPP
doubts the credibility of the polls and the results?
I
don’t know whether that will affect both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections
or just the Presidential one, which is the main source of grief to the NPP
activists.
There
is also the strong feeling—call it optimism—among the NPP activists that once
the Supreme Court annuls or invalidates the results, it will declare Akufo-Addo
as the winner instead of President Mahama. This aspect seems to be fascinating
the NPP leaders and followers, hence, their conviction that Akufo-Addo will be
installed in office.
I am
yet to come to terms with such a position and won’t bother my head over it,
although I can immediately dismiss it as the figment of those whose imagination
is doing overtime.
One
truth remains, though, that those NPP activists holding this opinion do not to
know how the Court will handle the matter and are just indulging in dangerous
speculation to tickle themselves. They are already fixated on victory and will
definitely spin out of (self-)control again when they lose the case. Such is
the lot of over-confident people who know not how to handle matters of this
sort or how to position themselves in relationship to dicey issues.
Having
expended energy combing for evidence, and having exhausted avenues except the
legal one, they have no option but to go to court. As pressure mounts on them,
they are fending off criticism, saying that “nobody can stampede them to go to
court” and that they will do so when ready.
While
some are saying that they will file their case within the stipulated 21-day
period for it to begin being heard by January 20, 2013, others are vehemently
opposed to any court action at all.
The
overarching issue seems to be out of focus. Even though some have explained
that all they are seeking is the decision of the court, which should help improve
our democracy, it is not clear the relief that the NPP will seek. We know they
will say with vigour and determination that the elections were rigged. But what
will they want the court to do?
We
note that the case will not start being heard many weeks after President Mahama
would have been inaugurated into office. The 1992 Constitution approves the
inauguration within the circumstance. How will the NPP’s expectation that their
preferred choice (Akufo-Addo) rather be installed in office be met within that
context?
Or, will
they be waiting for President Mahama to be inaugurated into office only for him
to be divested of the Presidency by the Supreme Court and Akufo-Addo instated
instead?
What
exactly do these NPP people think their court case will yield? One irrefutable
fact is that it won’t lead to the removal of President Mahama from office to
give way to Akufo-Addo. So, what do they hope to accomplish with it?
Or
do they think that the court will order full-scale investigation into their
allegations that the elections were rigged? To what end? So, we can turn round
to debunk reports by the EC and foreign/local election monitors that the elections
were fair, free, and transparent? For what purpose?
Or
to say that there are loopholes in the electoral system to be plugged to avert
any malpractices in future? Good. That will be a viable outcome. But does it
have to take the Supreme Court to tell us to do so? Why can’t the EC itself do
post-election appraisal of its functions to know what went wrong and why?
Should
we not take prompt steps to strengthen the EC and equip it materially to
perform its functions or do we have to allow these malcontents to continue undermining
its integrity as has been the case even long before the elections were held?
Still,
the real purpose of the NPP’s intended court case isn’t clear to me. Let me
reiterate here that I still see some serious problems with it. There is nothing
concrete to be accomplished from it. There seems to be too much adrenaline at
work.
Are
these NPP people saying that they are just interested in getting this case
tried as a mere formality?
There
is too much murkiness here, which tells me nothing substantial about what
exactly the NPP’s suit will lead to or add to our efforts at smoothing the
rough edges of our democracy.
Now
that Akufo-Addo’s supporters have declared him the winner of the elections,
will his ego be satisfied? Or will he still want the Supreme Court to confirm
his supporters’ claim? What will become of him in the circumstance?
It
seems the NPP is even not keen on seeing him installed in office; hence, the
diffident claim that all they want is the Supreme Court’s verdict on their
suit. If the suit will not lead to his being installed in office, what is its
value?
As
we wait for them to go to court, we will keep monitoring goings-on to see where
exactly the NPP is moving itself.
The
majority of those who rejected it at the polls know where they want to go under
their preferred Presidential Candidate, John Dramani Mahama. Let the “Concert
Party” run on because it has a large and eager audience in place.
I shall return...
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