General News of Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Source: Daily Guide

Mahama will step down- Kofi Jumah

Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Asokwa in Kumasi, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, is of the strong conviction that President John Dramani who was sworn into office on Monday will eventually step down as president following a court order.

The ex-Kumasi mayor who does not believe that the current president would serve his full four-year mandatory term in office stated “even President Mahama knows that very soon he would be made to step down.”

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) of which Mr. Jumah is a leading member is contesting the results of the 2012 presidential elections which saw Mr. Mahama elected as president, at the Supreme Court.

The NPP’s decision of going to court over an electoral result which has never been witnessed in Ghana’s politics in recent times was reached after the party claimed to have detected series of gross irregularities during the polls which to them changed the results in President Mahama’s favour.

Mr. Jumah indicated that the NDC, and in particular, President Mahama, were now panicking over fears that the Supreme Court would in the end change the results of the polls into NPP’s favour.

The former Asokwa MP who sounded confident stated that the “NDC has no defence in the matter being contested in court by the NPP” insisting that manipulation of figures had taken President Mahama to the presidency.

According to Mr. Jumah who was speaking on Angel FM, Nana Akufo-Addo won the elections in the first round but some people at the Electoral Commission (EC) ICT department managed to massage the figure to change the will of the people.

He insisted also that credible evidence in his possession indicates that Nana Akufo-Addo won not only the 2012 polls but the 2008 elections as well but on both occasions some elements at the EC whom he was aware of changed the figures to give victory to the NDC on a silver platter.

The ex-Kumasi mayor without mincing words alleged that Messrs Akomea and Sulley of the EC’s ICT department were the main orchestrators in the changing of figures to favour President Mahama.

Mr. Jumah sounded a strong warning to the two gentlemen that very soon they shall be dragged to court to answer for their bad deeds which had changed the will of the masses and brought sadness to many hearts.

He said he was closely monitoring the movements and actions of Messrs Akomea and Sulley and for that matter the entire EC staff that were moving the length and breadth of the country trying to reconcile two different electoral registers in their possession.

Mr. Jumah downplayed concerns by some NPP members that former President Kufuor’s presence at the inaugural ceremony of President Mahama was an indication that the NPP top wig believed that President Mahama was the genuine winner of the elections.

He said Mr. Kufuor, who had served Ghana for two terms was attending the national event in his capacity as a statesman, therefore nobody should read meanings into his presence at the ceremony.

Mr. Jumah who claimed to have met and talked with Mr. Kufuor said it was not true Mr. Kufuor had stabbed the NPP in the back after taking part in President Mahama’s inauguration ceremony, saying “Mr. Kufuor is in full support of the NPP’s decision to go to court.”

He entreated his party members not to lambast Mr. Kufuor unjustifiably, insisting that the former Ghana leader is an experienced politician who knows what he is doing.

He defended NPP’s decision to boycott President Mahama’s inaugural ceremony, saying “it was a wise decision.”