NPP's boycott of inauguration is contempt of the Constitution - Vinyo

The Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Chairman of the Youth for Mahama, a wing in the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Kofi Vinyo, has said the boycott of the inauguration ceremony of President John Mahama on Monday by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a show of gross disrespect to the 1992 Constitution.

He said though the executives had the constitutional right to express their reservations and contest the outcome of the 2012 general election, their failure to attend the ceremony showed the level of political immaturity within the NPP.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr Vinyo who is also a former Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP) emphasised that all well meaning Ghanaians should openly condemn the NPP’s boycott of the swearing in ceremony.

He explained that the massive participation of the international community in the national ceremony on Monday January 7, 2012 was an indication that the World which deployed foreign observers during the election had acknowledged the outcome of it.

Mr Vinyo said the uncouth action taken by the NPP executives was a disgrace to Ghana democracy and that Ghanaians must be wide awake and condemn all activities that had the likelihood to affect the country's democratic system.

Mr Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, Chief Executive Officer of Mission of Hope Society (MIHOSO), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working to promote social development said the boycott of the NPP from the ceremony indicated the party seemed not to understand the principles of democracy.

Mr Benarkuu emphasised that as the country had taken the path of multi-party democracy, the responsibility lay on Ghanaians to always hold the leaders they elected in high esteem and hold them accountable.

He noted that as a democratic country, Ghana needed to build, strengthen and resource state institutions such as the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Department of Social Welfare to enable them to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently.

Mr. Takyi Arhin, a football administrator told the GNA that President Mahama was a unifier and it behoved all Ghanaians to give the government the needed support to facilitate accelerated national development.

He said it would be in the interest of the NPP to let go the impending court case and strategize well for the 2016 general election as it was pursuing a “losing battle”.

Mr Arhin noted that the outcome of the 2012 elections showed that the NDC's better Ghana agenda benefited most of the people and that any decision to nullify the results would go against the will of the populace.

Mr Arhin commended Ghanaians for the way and manner they conducted themselves before and after the general elections and advised all and sundry to guard against anything that had the likelihood to jeopardize the peace that prevailed in the country. The Electoral Commission (EC) declared President Mahama winner of the December 7, 2012 election polling 5,574,761 votes, representing 50.70 per cent of the total valid votes cast to beat his closet contender, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo of the NPP, who obtained 5,248,898 votes, representing 47.74 per cent.

Before the announcement of the results, the NPP called on the EC to suspend the declaration of the presidential results and conduct an audit into the collated figures as well as the counts from the verification machines.

The NPP claimed it had uncovered systematic substantial discrepancies in the results from various collation centers as compared with official tally figures from the EC.

However, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, EC Chairman, went ahead and declared President Mahama as President-elect of the sixth Republic of Ghana, which prompted the leadership of the NPP to file a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the EC’s declaration.