General News of Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Source: peacefmonline

Election petition is a complete waste of time - Sekou

Sekou Nkrumah, Son of Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, has registered his displeasure with the election petition before the Supreme Court, labelling it as a “complete waste of time” and advised that the petitioners direct their focus on the general elections in 2016.

According to him, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which expressed disappointment in the outcome of the Presidential elections last year and challenged the legitimacy of President John Dramani Mahama in the Supreme Court, should have rather expended their energies in working towards the 2016 elections than pursue the case in court.

He said, in an interview with Radio Gold on Monday, that the petitioners after realizing the lapses in the December 7, 2012 polls should have collaborated with the political parties including the Electoral Commission to sort out their differences to find lasting solutions to the challenges so as to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

In his view, the NPP “should have rather focused on the 2016 election. If they had problems or issues with the elections, I think they should have found a way of working together with other political parties, together with the EC, to try to find a way of making our elections better.”

“So, if the NPP is saying that there were so many problems, irregularities or rigging if you like in 2012, then we need to ask what about the other elections that the NPP also won in 2000 and 2004? What about the other elections that they lost in 1992, 96 and 98?” he questioned.

He found it difficult to fathom the election petition by the three leaders of the NPP, claiming that because of the case; the party seems “to have bullied many people who had a different opinion about this election petition.”

Sekou Nkrumah expressing his thoughts about the progress of the election petition, stated on his facebook wall “I am already sick and tired of this election petition. How about you? In my opinion, I think it is a complete waste of time but to be honest with you the only good thing about it is that it gave me the perfect excuse to withdraw my support for the NPP.”