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Opinions of Wednesday, 3 September 2014

Columnist: Appiah-Osei, Lawrence

One Year After Ghana’s Precious Time Was Wasted In Court.

A year by this time, the Supreme Court had given its final verdict on the case that wasted 8 months of Ghana’s precious time. People were waiting for Nana Akufo-Addo, the flag bearer of the NPP, to either accept the verdict and concede defeat to the President, HE John Dramani Mahama, or reject the results and ask for a review. Nana accepted the results, conceded defeat but did not ask for a review. Nana did not have the option to reject the results and tell people to take the law into their own hands. That option was not available to him, and since he did what any human being would do, he couldn’t have contributed to the peace Ghana is enjoying today. The peace Ghana is enjoying now is by the Grace of God. His Grace and Love are sufficient for Ghana and Ghanaians.
One year after the NPP had wasted 8 months of Ghana’s precious time, they are coming up with rather nonsense talk. They say the Supreme Court verdict has thought then one thing. The one thing is that they now know elections are won at the polling stations. What a statement coming from a party that had contested elections from 1992 to 2012. This statement is also coming from Nana Akufo-Addo. This is why I say age is already catching up with Nana Akufo-Addo. How can a statesman like Nana make such a statement after the NPP had won elections in 2000 and 2004?
When the NPP won in 2000 and 2004, where did they think the elections were won? In someone’s bedroom? Nonsense! One thing I don’t like about the current leadership of the NPP is that they don’t tell the truth to their supporters. How can the leadership of the NPP now tell their supporters that, it is now that they know elections are won at the polling stations? Unfortunately, these supporters are believing what they are hearing. This is why they are always taken for granted. They don’t read.
In fact, if you were a wise person and you belong to a party that is telling you that since 1992, they now know that elections are won at the polling stations, humbly get out of that party. You want leaders who will tell you the truth, and assure you that they are finding solutions to the problems. You don’t want leaders who would tell you that since 1992, they had never known where elections were won and so this time, they will ensure the elections would be won at the polling stations, when you yourself know that nothing has changed between 2012 and now. “Same old man, same Vice and same message”.
One year after the NPP had wasted 8 months of Ghana’s precious time, they are asking the Electoral Commission to implement the recommendations made by the Supreme Court. My question to the NPP is “What recommendations are they talking about”? Do they know that our electoral system needs reforms? So they knew about these and had wanted to take advantage of them? The NPP should give us a break. If the NPP knew that our electoral system needs some reforms, why didn’t they go to court for those reforms? Instead, they went to the Supreme Court to annul over 4 million valid votes to enable Nana Akufo-Addo to be President. Now that the court had thrown their useless case away, a year after that, they are talking of reforms. Let it be told to the NPP that the Electoral Commission is a revolving entity and it doesn’t need the NPP to tell them to implement recommendations. They are already reforming every day and every week in the year.
One year after the NPP had wasted 8 months of Ghana’s precious time, they continue to say the Supreme Court verdict still has some lawyers confused. I can say on authority that the only lawyers who are still confused are the NPP lawyers. And they are confused because they refuse to learn. Throughout the court hearing, one could see that whilst the Supreme Court Justices were saying something, the NPP lawyers were saying something different. Even at the court room, they clearly showed their ignorance.
The NPP lawyers, a year after the verdict, continue to say the verdict lacked clarity and certainty regarding how elections must be conducted. The NPP has suddenly forgotten that Ghana has an Electoral Commission that conducts elections in the country. They are still looking up to the Supreme Court to tell them how elections are conducted in Ghana. You could see clearly that the NPP had a misplaced case at the Supreme Court, and instead of solving it amongst themselves, they dragged the whole nation into it, wasted 8 months of our time. I challenge anyone who does not agree with the Supreme Court verdict or does not see the clarity and certainty in the verdict to go to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and announce that because of his/her reasons, he/she has made Nana Akufo-Addo President of Ghana. Until someone does that, you guys should shut up and allow the country to move forward. Ghanaians are not relying on the way you understand the Supreme Court verdict.
Fellow Ghanaians, a year after the NPP had wasted 8 months of Ghana’s precious time, they are talking about vigilance in the 2016 elections and also they will not allow themselves to be cheated again. You see, they don’t have anything meaningful to say, and instead of them keeping quiet, they resort to saying anything rubbish. Unfortunately, Nana Akufo-Addo is in the middle of all these rubbish. What have they done since 2012 to suggest that they are ready for power in 2016 or 2020? What have they said differently since 2012? When you hear that the party has met at the Headquarters, it means they are resolving conflict amongst themselves. That is the only good thing they know how to do. Ghanaians will never give them power if they recklessly manage their own party and kill themselves in opposition. They should first take charge of their party, before thinking of taking charge of Ghana. If they can’t even manage 3 million of their members, what is the guarantee that they can effectively manage 25 million Ghanaians? I don’t see that guarantee and so should you.
The year 2016 is just about 2 years from now and in December 2016, the Alan faction will be telling the NPP members that “We told you so” and the Nana faction will be saying “We will bring him back in 2020 even if he will be in a wheelchair” President John Dramani Mahama would be the longest democratically elected President in the history of Ghana. Fortunately for him, he will also be the youngest. This will be a record that every person in the world would envy. It will be one of the unbreakable records in the world. Insha Alla it shall come to pass.

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