Is there any hope for Dr. Bawumia in the NPP’s political cabal?

Saturday, August 31, 2013

The thunderbolt has hit the NPP camp and paralyzed every one of them. The pre-verdict optimism has metamorphosed into a huge ball of fire, burning them from within and visibly tearing them apart on the outside. Akufo-Addo says he is angry at the Supreme Court’s verdict but has accepted it without any thought for asking for a review. The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP (Fred Anto) and the National Executive Committee of the party think otherwise. A committee has been formed to look into the judges’ opinions to help them advise themselves.

Some NPP followers are wondering whether Dr. Bawumia and Obetsebi-Lamptey can dissociate themselves from Akufo-Addo and ask for a review. Too many tastes will surely confuse the palate!!

Is Dr. Bawumia the stink-bug in the NPP’s political cabal?

Saturday, August 31, 2013

In discussing the NPP’s petition and its implications, we have glossed over the consequences to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the second petitioner. We now want to assess his role in this matter with the view to predicting his future political direction, that is, if he will have any at all. Without any reservation, we forcefully say that the negative outcome of this petition hearing will spell doom for his political career. We consequently advise him to take caution and redefine his strategies for survival.

We mince no word and opine that the ruling against the NPP has brought him to the cul-de-sac that will end his political career. He’s been tottering toward the precipice; and after August 29, he will either be forced by circumstances to tumble down into oblivion or regain his composure to face the vicissitudes of Ghanaian politics. 

We are, however, more inclined toward predicting doom for him because of our strong conviction that the end has not justified the means for him. The reality is that he is an outsider in the “Mate me ho” political family but used for political (in)expediency!! No surprise that his name hasn’t even been mentioned so far in this post-verdict period.

A post-mortem of the NPP petition hearing

Thursday, August 29, 2013

So, good friends, all the hullabaloo about Election 2012 has come and gone with President Mahama still at post, despite the cacophony and litany of weird allegations concerning his “illegitimacy” (according to the Gospel of Akufo-Addo). And with this turn of events, the setting of Akufo-Addo’s political sun is certain.

Having lost the case at the Supreme Court he must now be set to lick his wounds lest they fester into what will have a heavy physical toll on his 69-year-old body. Here is the substance that floored him:

1. Duplicate serial numbers of pink sheets: 9–0 [UNANIMOUSLY DISMISSED]
2. Duplicate Polling Station Codes &Names: 9–0 [UNANIMOUSLY DISMISSED]
3. Unknown (Ghost) Polling Stations: 9–0 [UNANIMOUSLY DISMISSED]
4.Voting without biometric verification: 6–3 [MAJORITY DISMISSED]
5. Over voting: 5–4 [MAJORITY DISMISSED]
6. Non-signing of Pink Sheets by POs 5–4 [MAJORITY DISMISSED]

Controlling prostitution: Can Ghana learn from Switzerland?

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Friends, you can’t believe what you will get to know about how Switzerland is moving to tackle the challenges posed by the oldest trade or profession—prostitution—which has become a major headache for the government over the years.

Although prostitution and consumption of paid sex are legal in Switzerland and prostitutes are considered as self-employed and are liable for taxation, controlling the spread and intensity of the trade has been very difficult of late.

In an attempt to reduce open street prostitution and to improve security for sex workers, Switzerland's largest city, Zurich, is opening "sex drive-ins" on Monday, according to news reports.

A majority decision won’t place Akufo-Addo in power

Monday, August 26, 2013

Friends, we are gradually enjoying the sneak peek that we are taking into the atmosphere at the Supreme Court regarding the determination of the NPP’s election petition vis-à-vis the out-of-court theatricals and media posturing. As we inch toward August 29, we recognize the self-assurances that influence public rhetoric in the NPP camp, especially.

So far, the NDC camp has been tactically quiet, creating the wrong impression among critics that it is apprehensive of defeat. The atmosphere for posturing has, therefore, been hogged by the petitioners.

Thanks to what has been revealed about Sammy Awuku’s utterances as captured in the secret tape—whether he is vehemently denying them or not—we can tell how the tide flows in that political camp and why the NPP members are bracing themselves up with anticipation of victory on August 29. Oh, how I wish they would tread cautiously!!

Has the NPP’s Sammy Awuku let the cat out of the bag?

Monday, August 26, 2013

Long before the proceedings began at the Supreme Court, rumours had it that the panel of Supreme Court judges had sympathizers or loyal NPP members among the 9. Names flew about and denials came from Justice V.M. Dotse particularly.

I have been inundated with questions from NDC supporters wondering what the fate of the President and the NDC will be, given those rumours. We note that there is always an element of truth in the Ghanaian rumour. Otherwise, wonder why Kutu Acheampong would pass a decree in the 1970s against rumour-mongering in Ghana!!

So, the rumours have rolled along, done many rounds in the public domain, and now given substance by none other than the NPP’s Deputy Communications Director, Sammy Awuku (who was recently grilled and lowered by Justice Atuguba’s panel for contempt of court).

After Nkrumah, who else?

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Over the past two days, two prominent members of the NPP (Prof. Mike Ocquaye and Nii Ayikwei Otoo) have taken the unwise step of slinging mud at Ghana’s Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the foremost leader who put Ghana on the world stage.

Indeed, Nkrumah’s singular pronouncement that the black man is capable of managing his own affairs sent shivers down the spine of the European and American Establishment. For once, the African Personality had its due share of world recognition.

Nkrumah’s development agenda for Ghana and his persistent efforts to prove that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked up with the total independence of the whole African continent materialized into monumental accomplishments for which he will remain a “dear” leader to those who value human mortality, mutability, and fallibility. 

He didn’t call himself OSAGYEFO; it was conferred on him by those who appreciated his sterling efforts toward national development. He feared nobody, especially the white folks who were still bent on dehumanizing the African, and he took the fight to them. His image has been looming large ever since he shot into the limelight in 1949; and his renown is unmatchable.

NPP Petition: Countdown to Judgement Day (Part V)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

ITEM 5: Factors that don’t favour the petitioners

The fundamental flaw of the NPP’s petition lies in its nature, form, scope, and intents and purposes. The petition is seriously flawed because of its wrong premise. In every reasonable challenge of the outcome of general elections, the petitioners ask for a recounting of votes, especially in places where they felt cheated as a result of rigging or other malpractices that turned the elections against them.

In the almighty United States, it happened in the State of Florida at the 2000 general elections that helped George Bush clinch victory when Al Gore halted any further challenge. In the recent case in Kenya, the challenger (Raila Odinga) asked for a recount of votes, but lost the appeal eventually.

NPP Petition: Countdown to Judgement Day (Part IV)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Item Four: Aren’t the NPP members jumping the gun?

My good friends, I hear there is an air of optimism and streaks of ecstasy gripping the NPP camp that come August 29, victory is theirs to relish. They are said to be jubilating already that the Supreme Court will rule in their favour. We’ve been told that Kumasi is agog with that spirit, apparently because of how the local pro-NPP FM radio stations are fine-tuning issues and creating the impression that the petitioners are on a winning trail.

Then also, they are basing their optimism on pronouncements made by some high-ranking NDC personalities (Dr. Kwabena Adjei, NDC Chairman, and a Minister of State, Fiifi Kwetey) regarding “the winner-takes-all” syndrome to suggest that these NDC people are frightened by the onrushing bad news that the Supreme Court’s verdict will bring.

NPP Petition: Countdown to Judgement Day (Part III)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Item Three: The Supreme Court’s Verdict

As we inch toward August 29 for the Supreme Court’s verdict on the NPP’s petition challenging the legitimate victory of President Mahama at Election 2012, we hear pronouncements from across the political divide that the verdict will be determined in one of the following ways: a unanimous verdict, an 8:1 or 7:2 or 6:3 majority decision (thanks to Sam Okudzeto). But there is also a 5:4 possibility.

A unanimous decision means that all the 9 judges will take one common position to conclusively determine the winner or loser. Will this consensus be difficult to attain? Not so, if all the judges believe in the relevance of the franchise and the outcome of the kind of free, fair, and transparent elections that took place on December 7 and 8, 2012. Nothing creates any doubt about the genuineness of the polls and the results therefrom. So, why shouldn’t unanimity be the highest expectation?

NPP Petition: Countdown to Judgement Day (Part II)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Item Two: The Petitioners’ Allegations in Perspective

Folks, we now turn attention to the substance of the petition that was laid before the Supreme Court by the petitioners to prove why it is not only couched in “bad faith” but also why the Supreme Court won’t uphold it. We need to backtrack to the very issues that informed the petition hearing. The petitioners initially laid before the Supreme Court a litany of allegations that they deemed to have compromised Election 2012 in favour of President Mahama.

According to their petition, the allegations included vote rigging, particularly the padding of votes to boost President Mahama’s standing; stealing of Akufo-Addo’s votes for President Mahama; collusion between the Electoral Commission, President Mahama and the NDC to rig the elections through manipulation of the electoral process; and many more. Based on these allegations, they organized a number of public forums, backed by their sub-groups (the “Let My Vote Count Alliance”, the Young Patriots, etc.) to mount incessant personal attacks on President Mahama and Dr. Afari Gyan.

Nobody Founded Ghana, Professor Mike Ocquaye!!

Friday, August 23, 2013

My good friends, the revisionist historians in the NPP are doing overtime to plaster history; but we won’t allow them to.

The NPP’s Professor Mike Ocquaye has just turned my crank with an abysmal lie that should be exposed for what it is and its potential to poison the minds of the ignorant ones. Why do these NPP leaders like misrepresenting issues to keep people ignorant for manipulation and exploitation? It is the same thing they have been doing with this petition hearing!!

NPP Petition: Countdown to Judgement Day (Part I)

Thursday, August 22, 2013

My good friends, it is exactly one week to Judgement Day when the Supreme Court will announce its verdict regarding the petition that Akufo-Addo, Dr. Bawumiah, and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey filed against President Mahama and the Electoral Commission on the outcome of the Presidential Elections on December 7 and 8, 2012.

From now till that moment, I will articulate my convictions and explain them to justify why I am persuaded that the NPP petitioners will lose the case. I don’t intend to hijack the assignment from the 9 Supreme Court judges, but I want to articulate my viewpoints for discussion in readiness for the moment.

Ours is to share ideas and enlighten each other so that we won’t be misled by anybody. All this talk of peace must be reinforced with cogent analysis of issues to clear any fog in people’s minds.

When the “political bats” foul our air…

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

My good friends, you all know that a bat is neither a bird nor an animal, even though it bears features of either species. Hanging on trees with its head down, it sees only what it wants to see. In politics, too, we have bats—those who cannot cling to one particular political tradition with convictions that can stand the test of time. They go where their bread will be buttered.

The “political bats” are out of their nooks and crannies to be noticed for what they are—neither here nor there politically. Not even transfixed in the middle but turning left and right, depending on where the buttering of the bread is being done. Then, they pitch camp there and sell their political birthright for pottage.

It is time to take on these politicians

Friday, August 16, 2013

My good friends, Justice Atuguba made a very bold assertion yesterday when he identified Ghanaian politicians of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie’s type as doing “illegal political galamsey”. He accused them of inciting their unwitting followers with inflammatory language and belligerent public posturing that threaten national peace, security, and stability.

According to him, such rabble-rousing activities also endanger harmony and prevent Ghanaians from enjoying their lives to the full. He cited instances when people just sell their property and emigrate from the country to preserve their lives and condemned those “illegal galamsey politicians” for being intemperate and causing needless panic and fear. I agree with him.

Of course, in each historical epoch, a people get the kind of government they deserve.

Cameroon’s Paul Biya takes the fight to Pentecostal Churches

Friday, August 16, 2013

The news report is that the Cameroonian President Paul Biya has ordered the closure of nearly 100 Christian churches in key cities, citing criminal practices organized by Pentecostal pastors that threaten the security of Cameroon (See http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/oddity/201308/111537.php). He did so to protect national security. And protecting national security means guarding the citizens against activities of the Pentecostal churches that either undermine the integrity of the state or expose the citizens to exploitation by the charlatans running these Pentecostal churches.

I call this a very audacious step, whether he has any ulterior motive or not. The Church should know its station in the body politic and remain there, doing things to solve problems, not to worsen them or create new ones to torment the system.

Some things that make me MAD!!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Let’s be honest to say that politics in Ghana has become too dirty for our comfort. I wonder what will become of the country if the situation doesn’t change for the better. Justice Atuguba is right, after all, that the bane of our national life is the dominance of affairs by “illegal galamsey politicians”.

Here is a clear demonstration of what really detracts from our national life and reduces national politics to a nauseating state of absurdity.

A member of the Communications Team of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Gabby Assumeng, has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of bringing a curse upon the country.

According to him, the current hardships and economic challenges being experienced in the country is mainly as a result of the electoral dispute on-going at the Supreme Court filed by three NPP bigwigs; Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP’s 2012 presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, his running-mate and the party’s National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=282591)

Gibberish from this NDC noisemaker. Utter nonsense, to put it more stridently. Hiding behind this smokescreen to pass the buck is the height of lousy thinking and lazy, clumsy politicking. Assumeng has misfired big time!!

The Supreme Court will not jail Owusu Afriyie: True or False?

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I stick my neck out upfront to say that the Supreme Court will not jail the NPP’s Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie when he appears before it tomorrow to answer for the contemptuous utterances for which he has been summonsed. Hopeson Adorye may have a different fate.

Both Owusu Afriyie and Adorye made utterances that have varying dimensions. While Owusu Afriyie’s utterances verge on “personal attack” mostly, that of Adorye are horrendous, verging on the genocidal. That will be where the line will be drawn to determine the fate of each as against the other.

Jailing Owusu Afriyie will definitely shake the NPP camp and shatter hopes; it will be the bated calm to precede the storm—the loss of their case on Election 2012. How will they take it, especially being wary of doing anything to “annoy” the panel of judges not to see them in a good light at this critical time in the hearing of their petition?

Why did the Supreme Court help the NPP petitioners?

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

We now know that this Wednesday, the Supreme Court will seek clarification on the written and oral presentations made by counsel for the petitioners and the respondents, respectively, on the NPP’s petition challenging the outcome of Election 2012. Barring any unforeseen negative circumstance thereafter, the Court will come out by two weeks’ time with its ruling.

Not many aspects of the petition or its hearing are any more unclear to us at this stage, our having followed and monitored proceedings over the past 4 months or so when the hearing of this petition began.  We know many things: that the petitioners have been inconsistent in telling the Court the exact quantum of pink sheet exhibits that they have based their petition on; and that the petition has been skewed to suit the premeditated agenda of the petitioners, which is why no evidence from the NPP’s strongholds has been adduced.

We also know that instead of presenting a petition covering all the 26,002 polling stations that participated in Election 2012, the NPP petitioners chose to do otherwise, giving the Court a tunnel-vision perspective on their case, not the bird’s eye view that should reasonably have been provided for a holistic appreciation of issues. We also know that the petitioners are asking the Court to annul over 4 million votes to put Akufo-Addo in power rather than seeking electoral reforms to improve our democracy. Some self-serving petition!!

Who is misinforming President Mahama?

Monday, August 12, 2013

The spate of open agitations and rioting against the manner in which President Mahama is handling the nomination of CEOs for the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) continues throughout the country. Concerns are rife that the President’s retention of undesirable CEOs or nomination of others described as “unqualified” is needlessly creating tension and threatening local governance. The President has stuck to his guns. What does he hope to get from this fracas?

The unfortunate part is that someone in his circle may be misinterpreting the agitations against his nominees to mean a challenge to his authority. It is not so. The protests are against his nominees, not his authority as the President, empowered by the Constitution to appoint CEOs as such.

Pathetic NPP petitioners are clutching at straw

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Let me begin my opinion piece with this aspect of proceedings at Wednesday’s sitting of the Supreme Court:

“Addison is belled out at this stage (meaning that he had exhausted the 30 minutes allotted to him for his oral submission).

“Judge Atuguba adjourns hearing to August 14. The judges will ask clarifications from the parties and will return 15 days later with a verdict.”

Many issues cropped up in the day’s oral submissions. The oral submissions given by the various counsel produced deep insights to help me understand all the more why the NPP’s petition is nothing but a huge sand castle. I expect that sand castle to tumble down sooner than later. But this aspect of Addison’s submission is nerve-wracking and must be discussed as such.