Comment: Sir John draws guidelines for his own election?

The Scandal is not very adept with matters of Ghana’s local politics. Readers of this Newspaper will agree that we hardly touch on issues of politics but something caught our attention this week. It is the current internal elections of party officers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The matter has been on board since Justice Atuguba’s Panel ruled that the NPP has no case at the recent Election Petition hearing. First was how to proceed with the internal elections; should it be from bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom.

After several weeks of rancorous debate the issue was finally resolved and it was decided that the party should begin with the Polling Station Executives then to the Constituency Executives, Regional Executives then the National Executives sometime in March next year.

Our real beef however is with who should manage the elections? We are wondering how substantive National Executives, who have declared their intention to run again for their offices, can be the ones to draw guidelines and processes that lead to the elections in the Party.

For instance, we are told that it is Polling Station Executives who elect Constituency Executives. Now the Constituency Executives are the ones who are going round identifying and distributing limited nomination forms to polling station members so they can contest for their positions. So, the story is that the Constituency Executives go down to the polling stations and seek out their friends and hand over the forms to them to fill. Similarly, it is alleged that National Executives pass on nominations forms to only friendly Constituency Executives they know will stand with them.

Really, come to think of it, how would the NPP have felt if Dr. Afari-Gyan was actually contesting for the position of President of Ghana and yet was the same person who purchased biometric machines and installed them, produced the electoral register, appointed electoral officers, printed ballot papers and distributed them for the day of elections.

Those who call for equity must come with clean hands. Rigging does not only happen at National Elections. They can happen at intra-party elections too. So Sir John, as General Secretary goes about inaugurating international branches of the party, receives their voter’s registers and proxies for an election in which he is contesting. Another National Executive has the franchise to register party members with his private machines and he is also running for office. No. This cannot be the standard of a Political Party that went to the highest Court of the land and cried foul over irregularities and malpractices. Principle must be Principle.