Tuesday,
December 18, 2012
Gradually,
the NPP leaders and the party’s supporters have boxed themselves into a tight
corner. Perhaps, they have counted too much self-confidence and misplaced trust
in prominent personalities, including the Asantehene, Osei Tutu II, to advance
their parochial political cause. His refusal to accept their petition today
must send the signal to them that they are biting off more than they can chew.
They
are tempting Fate, if I may put it that way. All told, elections are meant to
be won or lost and accepted as such in good faith. Not so for the NPP.
Indeed,
the party has a hard
road to travel. The problems that militated against it at the polls, especially
in the case of Akufo-Addo, go beyond the confines of the Electoral Commission
and cannot be solved the way the party’s leaders and follows think and approach
issues.
What
is written is written. Their rejection of it and decision to seek redress at
the Supreme Court is constitutionally sanctioned and no one is preventing them
from doing so. No one but themselves can take the matter to court and pursue it
to its logical conclusion.
But
taking to the streets and acting as if they no more have faith in the Lord (to
whom they had committed the elections) is ridiculous. So also is their taking
the battle out of the Lord’s hands to fight for their own betterment (if only
the Lord will bless it as such) won’t salve their own conscience (whatever is
left of it under the current circumstance). They are expending energy and
resources, mixing water with oil.
As
if they haven’t already caused enough derisive laughter with their antics, they
were on the streets of Kumasi today, declaring their Akufo-Addo as winner of
the just-ended polls. There can be no chief without the backing of kingmakers,
right? Not so for the NPP followers.
Certainly,
if the Presidency will not move to Akufo-Addo, then, Akufo-Addo must move to
the Presidency. Under normal circumstances, the Presidency has to move to the
candidate by an act of God. After all, we often hear it said that it is God who
appoints kings on earth. Not so for the NPP followers, even though they had
invoked God’s name and done all they could to seek his support for Akufo-Addo.
If God
had fought the NPP’s battle for it, he would have made the Presidency move to
Akufo-Addo. But he didn’t, which should influence the activists conduct. Or, do
they no more trust in the Lord?
From
what has happened so far (despite all the snuggling to so-called religious
leaders for their anointing, sanctification, purification, and the pilgrimage by
Akufo-Addo to Jerusalem to wail before the famous Wailing Wall), the results of
the elections have proved that God won’t have anything to do with Akufo-Addo’s
bid for power.
So,
if his followers now want to appoint him as President, so be it. They seem to
have taken over the battle instead of still waiting on the Lord. No
long-suffering for such people of little faith.
So,
announcing him as the winner is another demonstration of their penchant for causing
trouble just because the election didn’t go their way.
The
angry protesters had embarked on a peaceful procession on the principal streets
of Kumasi to register their displeasure against the EC which they accused of
discriminating against the Ashanti Region and for wrongly declaring incumbent
President John Mahama as the winner of the Presidential polls.
They
claim voters in the region were subjected to strict verification procedures
during voting by the EC officials unlike voters in other regions who were
allowed to vote without going through the verification process.
Baseless
accusation again. Shouldn’t they be praising the EC for being diligent, which
is needed to enhance our democracy? And how do they know how the procedures were
enforced in the other regions to draw that lame conclusion?
You
see the extent to which desperation can drive people? If they think that
Akufo-Addo is the person into whose hands to entrust their destiny, they can go
ahead to set him up as their President.
They
can as well put up a government house in Kumasi for him to operate from.
Unfortunately for them, it can’t happen. Ghana is a unitary state, not a
federal state to be so chopped up and governed as such. Had the National
Liberation Movement’s struggle for Ghana to be turned into a federal state been
accepted by Britain, federalism would have been our lot.
But
in their wisdom, the British colonial masters repudiated those moves by the
forebears of the NPP. They resisted that instigation and made Ghana a unitary
state at birth. So have I grown to see and recognize my country.
Those
still peeved that federalism wasn’t accepted can do all they imagine but won’t
succeed. Some are quick to claim their regions as the wealthiest in terms of
natural resources and that they contribute more to the country’s GDP than
others and don’t see why they shouldn’t dominate national affairs. Poor
reasoning.
The
survival of a country goes beyond natural resources. We need the human
resources too, which all regions have. In any case, every region in Ghana
contributes its fair quota of natural resources to the GDP, which debunks those
claims being made by trouble-makers disguised as public-spirited people who are
parading the political landscape for the people’s mandate to be in power.
For
as long as Ghana remains a unitary state, no amount of agitation based on divisive
tendencies will change the situation to suit the agenda of self-seekers. Ghana
is taller than any individual politician’s whims and caprices.
The
voters went to the polls and thumped up their preferred candidates. The Electoral
Commission has confirmed that thumping up, and nobody still itching at the
sidelines will be given any elbow-room to muddy the waters.
Having
given us assurances that the Supreme Court is where they will go to seek
redress, we expect them to be resolute and disciplined enough to chart that
path. Unfortunately, they seem not to have the moral compunction to do so, not
before disturbing public peace and order.
As
they go about demonstrating their true nature, we urge them not to look far to
see how the pond in which they feel comfortable going on protest marches is
drying up. Very soon, they will be left on dry land to chafe all the more.
The
string of congratulatory messages coming from foreign lands and local
institutions and prominent individuals to President Mahama is enough for them
to know where they stand. The refusal by the Asantehene to receive their
petition should strike them not only as a major blow but also as a painful
reminder of how they are losing grounds.
It
seems they have turned themselves into scarecrows that every peace-loving person
will not want to associate with. How many times must it be said to them that
there are only two expectations in any game of chance (gambling) where choices
are made by participants? It is either a win or a loss, and the stakeholders
are expected to brace themselves up for either, knowing very well that they
lack the clout to manipulate the choice makers in the polling booth.
For
more than four years, they had the opportunity to influence these voters with
convincing campaign messages and a demonstration of positive streaks of
character to appeal to the voters’ conscience. What did they do? Your guess is
as right as mine.
And
having failed to win the confidence, trust, and support of the voters, is it
the street protests and scare-mongering tactics that will reverse their sad
fate? Or the persistent hurling of insults at political opponents and the continued
undermining of the Electoral Commission? Now that the noose is tightening
around their necks, they have only one leeway, which is to head straight to the
Supreme Court.
From
the rumblings going on, I have a hunch that even that lifeline may elude them.
They seem not to reach a firm consensus regarding the court action, saying one
thing only to contradict it the next time—all happening in one breath! I leave
it to them to fight over.
In
fine, let me tell them that declaring Akufo-Addo the winner of the elections won’t
change anything on the ground; it only adds more zing to their “Concert Party”
performance.
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