In every democratic country, there is a ruling government and there is the opposition. In America, there is the ruling government, the Democrats and there is the opposition, the Republicans. Even though the Republicans are not offering any constructive suggestions to the American people, they are moving on. In Ghana, the opposition NPP has made things look like it is a disease to be in opposition. They are not doing anything to move passed election 2012 and that is good for Ghana.
The 2012 elections are long gone and a President has been declared validly elected, yet the opposition is still looking for other reasons why they lost the elections. To them, if elections are held free and fair in Ghana and Supreme Court Judges are not bribed, then they should either win the elections or the court case. One unfortunate thing about the opposition NPP is to win the 2012 elections except through the ballot box.
When the dependable and no nonsense Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Afari Gyan was about to declare that HE President John Dramani Mahamah had won the 2012 elections, the NPP led by their Chairman wrote and demanded that the Electoral Commissioner suspended the declaration of the results because they “thought” the elections were rigged in favor of the President. The petition evidence they sent to the Electoral Commissioner was all wrong with calculation errors. When strong man, Dr. Afari Gyan threw their useless case away, they immediately petitioned the Supreme Court.
When they petitioned the Supreme Court, they made the most noise that they had “mountain of evidence” to support their claim that the election victory was stolen from them. The Supreme Court with 9 powerful Justices spend 8 good months of Ghana’s time to let the NPP know that their “mountain of evidence” were all trash. The NPP wasted 8 good months of Ghana’s time trying to convince the Supreme Court Justices to annul over 4 million valid votes so that undecided Nana Akufo-Addo would be declared President. I am happy the Supreme Court made them to know that elections are won at the polls. But have they learned?
After the Supreme Court case, the NPP came up with a wild allegation that the 9 Justices were bribed through the Asantehene. This forced the Asantehene to cut short his investment promotions in Europe to come home and deal with the frustrated NPP. Those were the days you will hear people whose fathers are from Ashanti Mampong and their mothers from Ashanti Bekwai insulting the Ashantehene as if those people are Gas, Ewes, or Northerners. Just because a radio station had mistakenly said that the Asantehene was used to bribe the Justices alone made people to forget that they are Ashantis and so should give some respect to the Golden Stool. They insulted the Asantehene, the Golden Stool and anyone associated with the administration of the Ashanti Kingdom. They did all these because they were scared they will remain in opposition.
After the NPP members had finished insulting the Asantehene came the secret tape of Victoria Hammah, the disgraced deputy communications minister. As soon as the Victoria Hammah’s tape hit the air waves, the NPP shifted the person who bribed the Justices from Ashantehene to Nana Oye Lithur. In the morning, when the tape came out, the NPP wanted the President to immediately fire Victoria Hammah. In the evening when the President had fired Victoria, they said the President had fired her too soon. Is it a disease to be in opposition in Ghana?
Days after Victoria Hammah’s tape came out, the NPP led by their Secretary filed a petition with the Chief Justice and Speaker of Parliament to investigate the allegation that Nana Oye Lithur saw the 9 Justices before the verdict was read. The NPP are calling on the committee to call for all local and foreign phone calls between the Justices and their friends and relatives. They are also calling for the phone calls between the Justices and all government officials between December 10, 2012 and August 30, 2013. The NPP are also calling for both local and foreign bank accounts of all the Justices and the transactions in them. The NPP and the Chief Justice are behaving as if the Supreme Court Justices only serve the NPP people so anything outside NPP activities is a crime and should be investigated. Nonsense!!
Just last week, we heard from lunatic Kofi Jumah saying that he has a recorded tape to suggest that indeed the Justices of the Supreme Court were bribed. Unfortunately, most NPP supporters believe in the story from lunatic Kofi Jumah. No one knows when lunatic Kofi Jumah will play his tape, but normally such tapes are played before we begin to know where and how the individuals speaking on the tape were recorded. Before the 2012 elections, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong told the world that he had such tapes but he never played even one of them. He ended up calling on the Ashantis to kill the Gas and Ewes. Is it a disease to be in opposition?
All what I will say is that if the 2012 elections had given the NPP and the other opposition parties, a high fever disease, they should wait for the 2016 elections. That election will definitely give them madness. The opposition parties will be upgraded from high fever in 2012 to madness in 2016. High fever causes you to be just talking and doing unusual things. Madness causes you to remove your clothes and walk naked in public. But because you are mad, you don’t notice that you are walking naked. In short, you have no shame and no sense of responsibility. We are in 2013 but it looks like the opposition parties are almost there.

Lawrence Appiah-Osei (Protocol) PRO, NDC Washington Metro Branch.
Appiah65@Hotmail.com