Opinions of Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Columnist: Appiah-Osei, Lawrence

The Supreme Court will deliver a Peaceful ...

.... and Better Ghana to all.

Yes, the Supreme Court Judges also want peace in Ghana. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have guns, sticks, or bows and arrows but they have what it takes to maintain peace in Ghana, that is the interpretation of the law. They will interpret the laws to maintain the peace Ghana is currently enjoying.

The leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lied to their supporters before the December elections, during the elections, and they continue to lie to their supporters even after the elections. Let me give you specific examples: Before the elections, the leadership of the NPP told their supporters that Nana Akuffo-Addo’s Free SHS has gone very well with all Ghanaians and because of that Nana was going to win the elections “one touch.” We now know that, that statement was a lie at that time and it’s still a lie now.

During the elections, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John) the General Secretary of the NPP came on air and announced that Nana Akuffo-Addo has won the Presidential elections by 52% of the votes and so all NPP members, supporters and sympathizers should go to church the following day in white clothes and with white handkerchiefs to celebrate the victory. He continued to say the Electoral Commissioner cannot do anything about it and President John Mahama should do the right thing and concede. We now know that, that statement was a lie at that time and it’s still a lie now. After the elections, The NPP told the whole world that they have “mountain of evidence” amounting to some 11,842 pink sheets of irregularities, over-voting, stealing and others. They later reduced the number of pink sheets to 11,802 and during cross-examination, I remember Johnson Asiedu Nketiah (General Mosquito) saying that he strongly believe that the NPP will change the number of pink sheets again before the close of the case. Lo and behold, they’ve changed the number to 10,119 but still their numbers of pink sheets don’t add up. They are looking up to the Supreme Court to correct their errors for them and declare Nana Akufo-Addo as President of Ghana. These people talk like they are on a different planet. They talk like the Supreme Court Judges are not enjoying the peace Ghana is having now. Are the NPP supporters seeing what is going on? Should someone cane them before they know that their current leadership cannot be trusted anymore?

On December 9, 2012 (Sunday) when the NPP leadership got to know they had lost the elections, they quickly met and decided on Plan B. The Plan B was that they were going to stop the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Afari Gyan from declaring the Presidential results. The plan to execute this Plan B was that they were going to the Electoral Commission to say they have evidence to proof that the results of the elections were incorrect and that Dr. Afari Gyan should give them 24 hours to produce the evidence. Twenty-four (24) hours would put us into December 10, 2012 (Monday) and that would have given them enough time to go to court and stopped Dr. Afari Gyan from declaring the results until all errors were corrected. That would have put President Mahama in a “caretaker mode “of administering. Left to the NPP alone, Ghana would still be without a President and the consequences are anybody’s guess.

Dr. Afari Gyan being experienced and a peacemaker, gave them one hour to produce their evidence, which the NPP did not have. He told the NPP that the constitution gives him the power to declare the results and if they have any irregularities, they should settle that in court. So you see, the leadership of the NPP still doesn’t know that Dr. Afari Gyan has already declared the winner of the Presidential elections and that their Plan B didn’t work.

This explanation should tell you why the NDC lawyers used the words “afterthought and in bad faith” to describe the NPP’s petition in court. All this court “nonsense” is because some three people realized that the elections didn’t go their way and after thinking of a way out of the mess, they decided to use the court as an exit point. I hope the Supreme Court would also give them a graceful exit. I predicted in one of my articles that the NPP would not agree with the Electoral Commissioner once he declares President John Mahama as the winner of the December 2012 elections. That prediction has come true. I am going to make two more predictions: First, in 2016 The NPP will lose the Presidential elections again. They will go to court and argue that the winning margin was too wide and so the court should intervene and narrow the winning gap. Secondly, at the end of the court case before the Supreme Court, the Judges would tell the NPP that their “mountain of evidence” is not good enough to overturn the results as declared by the Electoral Commissioner. The lawyers and the leadership of the NPP should go home and preach peace to their supporters. Ghana needs peace now than ever before.

“In December 2013, when the NDC will be having their Congress and planning on how to again win the 2016 elections, The NPP will still be thinking of what went wrong at the Supreme Court. Winning in 2016 would be far for them”

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