NPP-USA: The Supreme Court Has Moral Responsibility To Save Ghana

NPP-USA would like to alert donor countries and the international community that Ghana’s fledgling democracy is on a political cliff. The corrupt NDC and its dubious stooges disguised as electoral commission officials have once again arrested Ghana’s democracy with very devastative ramifications. The fraudulent orchestration by the NDC, Afari Gyan’s Electoral Commission, and a surrogate Israeli company, STL, to hijack the will of the Ghanaian people to steal the elections for the corrupt, incompetent and morally bankrupt John Dramani Mahama and NDC parliamentarians has set Ghana on the slippery route to political instability.

The NPP, for the sake of Ghana’s peace, is peacefully seeking redress at the Supreme Court. The NPP-USA would like to remind Ghanaians and the international community that the NDC and its antecedent P/NDC, a party nurtured in the blood of innocent Ghanaians and with high penchant for authoritarianism and violence, lacks democratic credibility and trust with Ghanaians.

In the 2012 elections, The NDC as usual used false propaganda, bribery, intimidation, violence, and with naked conniving of Afari Gyan’s Electoral Commission, stole the 2012 elections for the NDC. The well-orchestrated scheme to steal the 2012 election first manifested itself in Nil Lamptey Vaderpuye’s use of hoodlums who violently prevented NPP members from registering at Odododiodoo, a constituency in Accra and also assaulted Ms. Ursula Owusu in the full glare of Ghana’s security personnel. During the elections, the NDC hooligans stole ballot boxes and burned ballot papers in NPP strongholds. A member of NPP-USA who chanced on witnessing NDC hooligans thumb printing ballot papers, stuffing ballot boxes and transporting the boxes from a house in Dzowulu, a suburb of Accra, in an ambulance was arrested and put in BNI cells only to be released after the election.

Despite the initial agreement that “No verification no vote”, John Mahama, a caretaker president who is supposed to respect the laws of the land, in an impudent violation of this clause ordered the discredited Electoral Commission to allow people to vote even without verification. Ironically the no verification no vote restriction was fully implemented in the NPP strong holds but was lax in NDC strong holds where imported foreigners and underage children voted without verification several times. The NPP has uncovered situations in NDC strong holds where the number of voters exceeded the number of actual registered voters. The NPP, the doyen of Ghana’s democracy, has sought redress in the Supreme Court but the NDC has resorted to intimidation and violence by ordering its Special forces to attack our offices and homes where smart and dedicated students were simply collating evidences of electoral fraud. NPP-USA has in its possession a recording of the savage display of brutal force reminiscent of the dark days of Ghana’s military dictatorship, when John Mahama’s special forces invaded NPP’s collating office. They also ransacked the office of Gloria Akufo, a member of NPP’s legal team and took away computers that they childishly presumed would intimidate us and obtain sensitive information on the court case.

All the opposition parties have condemned the massaged and stolen electoral result. The National Democratic Party, an offspring of the ruling NDC and headed by a co founder of the NDC, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has also rejected the results and declared the electoral results as a “419” fraud on the people of Ghana. Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum and the Progressive Peoples Party have also rejected the results and called for wider electoral reforms to save Ghana’s nascent democracy. Samia Nkrumah and the CPP rejected the results in the Jomoro constituency and noted the influx of Ivorians voting for the NDC candidate. Jerry Rawlings, the founder of NDC, also acknowledged to the African Union Chairman, NPP’s legitimate right to seek redress at the Supreme Court.

The justices of our supreme court owe allegiance to Ghana and its people not individuals or groups of people. We know the NDC would intimidate and even attempt to bribe the Justices of the Supreme Court to influence their decision because that is the only thing they know, but our honorable justices must remember that their reputation, integrity, Ghana’s peace and its enduring democracy are at stake.

We advise the Justices to learn from the Egyptian case where the military and Justices, contrary to expectation, sided with the will of the people. The Justices of the Supreme Court must be reminded that the tenets of the “old order” when the NDC used violence, brutalities, and bribery to have its way are no longer tenable. A historic epoch has been reached in Ghanaian politics where the will and dignity of the ordinary people supersede the parochial desires of the corrupt and violent NDC leadership.

This historic opportunity must be seized perpetually and diligently by the honorable men and women of our Supreme Court to institutionalize incorrigible institutions, freedom and justice, respect for human rights, probity and accountability and equal opportunities for all, irrespective of our tribal, religious, gender and social differences. Truly the voice of the people rings louder than the forces of destruction and intimidation and the peoples voice must be heard. We are confident the Justices of the Supreme Court cannot afford the luxury of bequeathing to the next generation and those yet unborn, the legacy of corruption, bribery, political injustices, electoral frauds that are recipes for African civil wars to a country which is on its way to becoming a beacon of hope for Africa. But if they fail and let this historic window of opportunity slip by without any conscientious efforts to uphold the will of the Ghanaian people and restore and sustain the dignity of Ghana’s democracy, they would surely be condemned for derailing our democracy and allowing Ghana to slip into political chaos.

We are confident they will not fail peace-loving Ghanaians and will bequeath to the next generation a free, just and stable Ghana devoid of tribulations. The destiny of Ghana depends on the courage, wisdom, independence and impartiality of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana whose decision on this crucial historic case would have ramifications for mother Ghana’s democracy and peace from now to eternity.