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Opinions of Friday, 5 October 2012

Columnist: Adofo, Rockson

The Electoral Commissioner is Decidedly Rigging the Election for NDC.

There is no way Rockson Adofo is going to throw his hands in the air in apparent defeat, in the face of Kwadwo Afari-Gyan's intransigence to rig the upcoming December 7, 2012 elections. Why should discerning Ghanaians resign themselves to the ill fate Kwadwo Afari-Gyan is resolutely determined to bring to bear upon them? Even when an animal is pushed into a tight corner, it musters courage to fight back, much less human beings. A cat, a snake, a dog, you just name it, when it is needlessly chased into, or forced into, a corner, against its will, it fights back to assert its freedom. Why are we as Ghanaians, of course human beings, allowing Kwadwo Afari-Gyan to bully us into accepting his crap as and when he thunders?

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan (the Electoral Commissioner) has done, is doing, and will do, acts that point in the direction of his determination to rig the elections in favour of the NDC party. He has in the first place created forty-five additional constituencies against the wish of the majority of Ghanaians that demanded he had better stop. Time being of very essence, and Ghanaians left with only two months to election day, it was only prudent for him not to have created the constituencies.

Only the NDC folk that know what they are up to support Afari-Gyan's insistence on creating the constituencies. He claims to be fulfilling his constitutional mandate and will do so irrespective of what the public says. He has created the constituencies such as to give the NDC a lopsided advantage over their political rivals. He has divided many of the NDC stronghold constituencies into two, giving them two winning constituencies where there would normally be one. In other constituencies where, say, the NPP is stronger, he came up with a hidden agenda. Let me use my own Kumawu Constituency as a classical example. He has carved out the Drobonso Afram Plains area where the residents are predominantly settler-farmers from the Northern part of Ghana, from the greater Kumawu constituency. Although Kumawu traditional Council area always votes NPP, by carving that portion out, and making it into Kumawu Afram North Constituency or whatever, with barely a population of seven thousand, he has provided the NDC with advantage. This will make NDC draw with NPP in what was formerly NPP stronghold. This is how cruelly Afari-Gyan thinks he is smart. The NDC candidate (Alex Adomako-Mensah) contesting the newly created Drobonso Afram Plains Constituency is good. However, I cannot forgive Kwadwo Afari-Gyan for his connivance and wickedness in this regard. He has as well insisted on proxy voting which in the end will negate the essence of biometric verification. He is giving plenty of leeway to those foreigners NDC bussed in from Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso etc. to register, the right of vote in Ghana. How do we biometrically verify an electorate's identity if the person does vote by proxy?

Dr. Afari-Gyan chucked out of the window the Representation of Peoples Amendment Law (ROPAL). The implementation of ROPAL would have extended voting rights to Ghanaians resident abroad to participate in Ghana elections. Having said this, he is allowing Ghanaians working in our foreign missions and students on Ghana government scholarships studying abroad to vote in the upcoming December 7, 2012 elections. What a selective application of ROPAL in favour of the NDC. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan picks and chooses who he wants to vote and how. What makes a Ghanaian on government scholarship superior to, or more a Ghanaian than, one on private sponsorship? He feels those Ghanaians working in our foreign missions and students on government scholarships will vote principally NDC.

Finally, the last straw that broke the camel's back angers me most. I have heard that Kwadwo Afari-Gyan in connivance with the NDC is going to give the opposition parties a knock out blow that will send them sprawling in the political arena and off the ring. He is going to import faulty or inferior batteries for use in the biometric/verification machines. Strong rumour has it that he will send the faulty batteries to the NPP strongholds on the day of voting. The batteries will run flat barely a few hours into the machines being in operation. This will make it impossible for so many registered votes to vote. Failure of people casting their votes for no fault of theirs will not in anyway stop Afari-Gyan from declaring the results. Why is this old man full of evil to the extent of plunging Ghana into chaos?

The evil that men do lives after them. We shall have to stop this evil crook from Berekum in his tracks before he does irreparable damage to Ghana.

I am calling on all concerned Ghanaians in the UK to contact me on rcksnadofo"yahoo.co.uk. We shall discuss how best to draft a letter that we can take to Prime Minister David Cameron, the Queen, the UK parliament and the House of Lords highlighting the evil intentions of Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and his NDC accomplices. They need to be exposed. For your information, my favourite Sources radio UK FM 96.3 has suffered a glitch. Technicians are tirelessly working to resolve the problem. Keep tuning in to Sources radio where real concerned Ghanaian citizens discuss the political way forward for Ghana.

Rockson Adofo