Monday, June 15, 2015
Folks, the NPP’s main beef against the electoral system in place
is that the voters register is bloated and shouldn’t be used in general elections.
It has accused the EC of incompetence on that score and made all kinds of ugly
noises all over the place, threatening to move heaven and hell for a credible
voters register to be put in place for Election 2016. As to what they will do
if their demand is not met, they know that they have only two options: go to
court or boycott the general elections. Either course of action has dire
consequences for it.
Being led by their pride and self-righteous acclamations that
they are “legal luminaries” and the cream of Ghana’s “interrectuals”, they will
snatch at the first option, which is to go to court to compel the EC to do
their bidding. They trust their friends in the Judiciary to fight that cause
for them; but it won’t be an easy choice. The court will need a lot more before
it before compelling the EC to clean up the existing register.
We saw what happened during the NPP’s useless petition hearing
and are well-informed about the technicalities involved, which will probably
disrupt the process. Any verdict by the court compelling the EC to do anything
about the register won’t be implemented as soon as given. It involves money and
other resources that aren’t available to the EC. It can’t even organize the
district-level elections for lack of such resources. So, why add more to its
burden? The court will have an uphill task if the NPP approaches it.
On another note, what can anybody do if the EC fails or refuses
to do the court’s bidding? The snag is in sight, which makes any recourse to
the courts a mere formality.
Option number two for the NPP is to boycott Election 2016 in
protest against the “flawed” register (in their own conception of issues). But
can they? Having invested so much in Election 2016 as the
be-it-all-and-end-it-all for them, can they boycott the elections just because
of concerns about a so-called faulty voters register? You, be the judge!!
Now comes the grand contradiction, emerging from their own camp
as revealed by their just-held primaries to choose Parliamentary candidates in
245 constituencies. Voting couldn’t take place in 30 others because of legal or
technical hitches. The ousting of 24 incumbent MPs from the list may raise some
people’s eyebrows but not mine. And I have good reasons to tear apart much of
what happened.
Defeated candidates attributed their loss to the very substance
underlying the NPP’s campaign of calumny against the Electoral Commission’s
handling of affairs: flawed voters register; malpractices during voting; plain
cheating; and the buying of voters’ conscience with inducements such as money,
material gifts, etc.
There is a resounding chorus against the manipulation of the
voters register used for the primaries. Here are some instances:
1. ASHAIMAN: Thomas Adongo
alleged the tampering of voters' register and claimed that the voters’ register
handed down from the regional party to the constituency was doctored. He
said deceased members of the party was replaced by certain persons at the
constituency working to ensure his defeat. He decried the lack of “principles”
and vowed to teach the NPP a lesson by going independent for Election 2016.
2. WEIJA GBAWE CONSTITUENCY: The MP, Rosemond Comfort Abrah, has alleged a
grand conspiracy at the highest levels of the party to get her out of
parliament. She insisted that she has uncovered a plot to doctor the voters'
register to ensure her defeat. She said a copy of the register available to her
was the same as what was used in selecting the 2016 flagbearer back in October
2014.
Ms. Abrah revealed that she
“suspected foul play” after realizing her picture on the register was removed
and replaced with that of a coordinator in the party. But on voting day, she
was shocked to discover that “they used a completely different album. What they
used was different.” “You could see that it was printed and implanted. It
lacked my picture anyway.” She has not called the winner to congratulate her
because “as for this one, it was clear…she hasn’t won”. (See
http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2015/June-15th/i-will-teach-them-a-lesson-failed-npp-mp-threatens.php#sthash.yvH8bAGj.dpuf)
Let’s
hear her: “They have stolen it, they used a different album. Thieves, thieves…”
she shouted. “I’m not accepting the results, Tina Mensah hasn’t won. They have
used a different album for the voting,” she fumed. (See
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/politics/artikel.php?ID=362613)
3.
NHYIASO CONSTITUENCY: Dr. Richard Anane insisted that the Electoral Commission
(EC) revealed some electoral fraud (over-voting and so many other things). As
reported, Dr. Anane confirmed claims that power in the NPP is being sought on
factional grounds.
Another
defeated candidate (Stephen Amoah) said the circumstances under which he lost
his bid in the Saturday election was a “dent on democracy”. According to him,
the balloting and counting of the votes was marred by flaws and obvious
inaccuracies.
4. OFOASE-AYIREBI CONSTITUENCY:
Irate youth resorted to violence in protest against the choice of Kojo
Oppong-Nkrumah and not their pre4ferred incumbent MP (John Obiri Yeboah). They accused the Benkumhene of the
traditional area Nana Acquah Frempong and another sub chief, Nana Asabro, of
taking bribes from Oppong-Nkrumah.
5. ASOKWA CONSTITUENCY: Maxwell Kofi Jumah’s vandalizing of the
voters register and other electoral materials may be immediately explained away
with his dissatisfaction at the open bias shown his rival (the incumbent MP) by
the delegates; but there is a lot more behind it all. He said he doubted the
credibility of the voters register being used.
The NPP Communications Director
Nana Akomea called on aggrieved aspirants to gather evidence and proceed to the
appropriate committee of the party for further investigations. But Mr. Adongo
rebuffed that urge, saying that using party structures is “useless”.
The big picture
emerging from these isolated instances is clear: that the voters register is at
the heart of the problems that characterized the primaries. In that context, it
is fair and proper to wonder why after making so much ugly noise about such an
issue at the national level and focusing on it as its main political tool the
NPP cannot set a good example in-house.
If it cannot produce
and use a credible and reliable voters register in its own elections (for
reasons best known to its handlers), how can it go about condemning the EC and
setting it up for needless attack by its unwitting followers? Can the NPP
leaders tell us what the constraints are? Or are we to be left alone to assume
that the faulty voters register was purposefully used to sabotage the defeated
candidates? Why so?
We can infer from all
that has happened in the NPP camp that those complaining about the voters
register are doing so mainly as a political gimmick, having already realized
that they are not getting the traction they need to succeed in political mobilization
efforts. They are harping on the national voters register and blaming the EC as
part of their grand scheme to cast its work in doubt and prepare conditions for
howling and mischief if they lose again.
Electoral victory is
won at the polls, not in court or through the boycott of elections. That is my
message for these desperate NPP “rogue” and “book” politicians. Democracy
demands a better and responsible behaviour than what they are putting up.
Now that their own
lapses regarding the voters register have been exposed, what moral
justification do they have to continue painting the EC black?
I shall return…
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E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
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