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.
In all honesty, I wasn’t in the
least tuned up to hear from Philip Addison (counsel for the NPP petitioners)
what he told the Supreme Court:
“The
difference between votes for the first respondent and first petitioner (Akufo-Addo)
was 325,863. This result should be taken in comparison to the outcome of votes the
NPP and NDC presidential and Parliamentary candidates.
“The
first Petitioner had 5,248,898 votes and his Parliamentary candidates had
5,248,882 which showed a difference of 16.
“For
the first Respondent he garnered 5,574,761 as against 5,127, 641 by all his
parliamentary candidates which showed a difference of 447,120. What accounted
for this difference? It cannot be skirt and blouse phenomenon because the NDC
are in the majority. The majority in Parliament secured 121,221 votes less than
the minority. This is curious and undermines the one man one vote spelt out in
the constitution.”
I will dive into this submission
by Addison to prove the bad faith with which these NPP people have been acting
all this while. Many elements constituting this sand castle are known,
especially those related to the anomalies, miscategorizations, mislabellings,
duplications, triplications, quadruplications, and what-have-you!!
Critical observation of
proceedings at the Supreme Court have revealed the machinations, duplicity, and
dogged mischief with which the pink sheet-based petition was couched, in the
first place, and pursued with some shameless tenacity all this while.
But nothing has shocked me more
than what counsel for the petitioners (Philip Addison) sought to do at today’s
sitting of the Court when he made his oral presentation to conclude the
arguments on why the petitioners challenged Election 2012 and why the Court
should annul millions of votes to put Akufo-Addo at the Presidency.
Addison joined the petitioners in
bending back to swallow the NPP’s own vomit. Not strange because it is
characteristic of “political dogs” to go back for their own vomit in a vain
effort to hang on to life. As my friend insists, desperate times provoke
desperate acts!!
My
good friends, do you see why I haven’t ceased scathingly criticizing these NPP
people? They have acted all along in very bad faith and deserve nothing but
concentrated contempt.
When
they launched their campaign of acrimony against the EC and President
Mahama/NDC, some of us wondered why they didn’t include the Parliamentary
aspects of the general elections in their petition. We accused them of acting
in a very bad faith; but they either remained silent on the issue or used
porous arguments to attempt fending off criticism.
One
argument was that the Parliamentary elections were different aspects to be
taken up individual NPP Parliamentary Candidates who felt cheated. Indeed, some
rushed to court but nothing has issued forth so far to prove that they have any
case to be heard. A mere window-dressing for the challenge to the Presidential
elections?
But
in gathering evidence to pursue their self-serving agenda, the petitioners
mixed pink sheets of Parliamentary elections with those for the Presidential
one. It was only through vigilance that Tsatsu Tsikata and the other legal
teams of the respondents exposed their mischief and duplicity.
Still
bent on contaminating matters, they found ways to inflate the quantum of pink
sheet exhibits and other documents that they had Photoshopped. The KPMG’s
vigilance and professionalism exposed them in this area too. As we could see
from Addison’s struggles to plaster reality with falsehood in his oral
submission, this exposure has really hurt the petitioners.
Now,
what do we see? The NPP petitioners have turned full circle to rely on material
from the Parliamentary elections in a vain attempt to beef up their case
concerning the Presidential elections. That was what Addison said (as quoted
above).
So,
now, the NPP petitioners know that they can marry the Parliamentary elections
to the Presidential one? And what puerile arguments? And he is emphatic that “it
cannot be skirt-and-blouse phenomenon”?
Had
the petitioners done any serious checks to know the pattern of voting among
their own so-called supporters, they would have been told that skirt-and-blouse
voting was an integral part of what took place on December 7 and 8. Of course,
given the fact that Parliamentary Candidates of the NPP had individual
attributes that put them streets ahead of Akufo-Addo, why won’t the voters go
for them and despise their Presidential Candidate?
Some
of us heard a lot about this pattern of voting and won’t be surprised at the
turn of events. But for Addison to cite this instance clearly confirms the high
degree of paralyzing desperation and debilitating frustration that has hit the
petitioners.
Who
says that a voter who endorsed a Presidential candidate will automatically go
for the Parliamentary candidate of the party of choice? Indeed, bringing this
aspect into this final rhetorical manouevre is counter-productive and will hurt
the petitioners’ credibility all the more. It is a clear demonstration of low-brow
political thinking. These NPP people are really suffering because they are
imprisoned in their own minds!!
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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