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Opinions of Friday, 1 February 2008

Columnist: Osei-Bonsu, Prince

Is JJ Rawlings the Enemy of PEACE in Ghana

The only persons CONSTANTLY, beating war drums in Ghana are the maniacal ex-president JJ Rawlings, and his beleaguered, Prof Mills.
Frankly, I am appalled by the constant refrain, and references to Kenya, since the violence on the once peaceful East African nation. We wish our brothers in Kenya will find a peaceful resolution to their conflicts. Hopefully, Kofi Annan, may help. The efforts of Pres Kuffour should be acknowledeged as well.The violence erupted because; the opposition felt that the party in government had rigged the elections.
There ought to be a recognized electoral commission or an independent court system to address alleged election irregularities.
Those who have issues with specific outcomes or results can have such grievances addressed by the electoral commission or independent judicial review.
To date, there is not a single credible allegation that the party in power in Ghana, (NPP) has ever rigged an election.
On the other hand, there are substantiated facts of much electoral fraud by the P/NDC when they were in power. There were many non-Ghanaians who came to vote from Togo in the 1992, and 1996 elections. Consequently, there were many over-votes in many towns in a specific region in Ghana.
We know that Gen Erskine, an one time presidential aspirant in the P/NDC, and his family voted for him yet received no votes, when the votes were counted, in a party election conducted by the P/NDC.
The leadership of the P/NDC has repeatedly, side stepped the will of the Ghanaians, and that of the rank and file of the NDC, by "anointing" presidential candidates, a clear violation of democratic principle. (Remember Swedru Declaration?).
The NPP has demonstrated yet again, by our peaceful election of Nana Akufo Addo, as our presidential flag bearer, at the Congress at Legon that we believe in the democratic principles. We followed both party rules, and all election laws in Ghana, as evidenced by the presiding Electoral Commissioners approval of the conduct of the election at the Legon Congress. The NPP party has presided over both parliamentary and presidential elections, and to date there are no credible, proven allegations of vote rigging. Our credibility as party, and the mandate to rule, come from having fair, clean elections, ensuring everyone has unfettered access to the ballot box. The NPP wants to be in the driver's seat in championing the African Excellence in the new millennium in all endeavors of national struggle, including the conduct of elections. The NPP seek to be the beacon of hope for all Ghanaians, and indeed Africa, and the world.
Ghanaians, therefore, should be rest assured that, NPP will not allow Ghana to disintegrate into the Kenyan fiasco.
The only people we need to watch are the maniacal JJ who is contantly beating war drums, and calling for "boom" let more human blood flow. Can anyone imagine former president Nelson Mandela, of South Africa, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter of US, or former Prime Minister Tony Blair openly calling for doom, and violence, in their respective countries, ahead of elections? Former President Rawlings constant reference to ?boom? let more human blood flow, may reflects his insatiable sadistic thirst for ?political blood?. At times I wonder if Ghanaians are witnessing a ?political cannibal?. Is JJ Rawlings the Ghanaian equivalent of Idi Amin? Is Rawlings the enemy of Peace in Ghana. Rawlings beat his own vice president, shortly before the latter?s demise. Can any one count the number of deaths in Ghana in Rawlings hands? Rawlings alone remained the only former president to kill three previous presidents/heads of state. He killed 8 generals, and 4 judges, including ?nursing mother, and a retired military officer. There are untold number of persons missing from the P/NDC era. There were too many innocent defenseless women and men, beaten, tortured, and lost treasures at the hands of the P/NDC.
Frankly, it is time that we look at the indemnity clause, in the constitution, to find ways to address the constant threats of violence by Mr. Rawlings. He alone remains as the epitome of doom, the very quintessence of chaos, in Ghana. He is the constant threat to peace. He is the enemy of our cherished freedom. Mr. Rawlings and Prof Mills can prove me wrong by stopping their constant refrain, and references to doom, boom, and war. It is only an election. Ghanaians will cast our ballots, and count the votes, announce the winner, and move on.
All Ghanaians irrespective of political affiliations should condemn violence. Ghana will have a peaceful election, and a peaceful political transformation we can ALL be proud of.
Let us all pray, and work for peace. Peace does not come from the ballots we cast, but from the way we relate to each other.
NPP will win.
NPP is on the March to Victory!!!

prince osei=bonsu, wahshington d.c

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