Comments that some persons are planning to rig the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections should be coming from serial callers, not persons like Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, has said.

His concern follows claims by Mr Amissah-Arthur when he met supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Asawase in Kumasi that: “I will urge all of you to be extra vigilant. NDC needs help. On December 7, some people will try to cheat the NDC. Be very vigilant to ensure no one succeeds in cheating us.”

Mr Baako, reacting to these comments while speaking on Peace FM’s morning show on Wednesday October 5, said: “What is this thing from Vice President Amissah-Arthur. … He’s my friend and I respect him a lot. He’s level-headed and very calm. He’s a gentleman and there’s no doubt about it. Very cultured and educated, but this thing about rigging, where did he get it from? When one mounts the political platform, the person’s real self gets lost and he/she gets into an entirely different mode. If I’m to analyse such a person, I struggle. So, if he’s listening to us, he should calm down on his comments before he’s dragged into the gutter.”

“There are serious issues out there that must be raised and marketed to the electorate. If it’s serial callers making the baseless allegation made by the Vice President, I will understand.

But if a whole Vice President will descend low to the level of a serial caller, then it is very worrying. What I’m saying about him is so weighty that I can’t freely say it.

I just don’t understand it. To be honest, this is a note of caution. Some of us respect him so he should stop making such comments. Like the one that he asked for someone in a crowd of supporters to be lifted because short people cannot see Mahama’s achievements, which we were later told was a joke.

I’m a typical Fante, and I enjoy jokes and can perform comedies, but at a certain stage, comedy turns into a tragedy. So the big men should know how to handle themselves.”