*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, PhD

**Submitted on December 10, 2012

“The largest elections observation network in Ghana, CODEO, is urging the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, to show good competitor qualities by congratulating the president-elect John Mahama” (Ghanaweb, December 10, 2012).

“Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Prof. Emmanuel Asante, has called on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its flagbearer to demonstrate that they truly understand the meaning of democracy even as they dispute the results of the just ended 2012 elections” Ghanaweb December 10, 2012).

Let us challenge ourselves
To stand for the truth
To seek the truth
To work for the truth
Coerced silence is not peace
Coerced concession is not peace
Coerced congratulations is not peace
Peace does not spring from weakness
Peace is the watershed of truth
Peace flows from boldness
Let us be bold
Let us seek peace
Not peace from theft
Not peace from robbery
Not peace from surrender
Not peace from submission
Ah! Yes, peace from peacefulness

Our false narratives
False heroic narratives
Of battered memories
Of stolen verdicts
Of hidden inconvenient truths
Of jaundiced peace
Of coercing untruth as peace
Truth evokes truth
Why are we afraid of truth
Untruth does not bring peace
Untruth hatches lies of peace
Sanguinary lies
That kills dreams

If the NPP has evidence
Let them bring it to the fore
Solid evidence
Not a shoddy one
If they claim to have evidence
Allow them to showcase it
Evidence on EC & NDC rigging
Rigging our national elections
The worst crime
Against our conscience
Against our body politic

Abandon the mantra of peace
Amidst violent exploitation
Amidst abuse of power
Peace is when you solve conflicts
Peace means parties come to terms
This culture of fama Nyame
This culture of enye hwee
This culture of gyae na enka
These cultures murder us
These cultures impoverish us
These cultures bankrupt us

So let it ring
Let peace ring
Ring from peace
Not from coerced peace
Let the NPP prove the vote rigging
Let Ghanaians stand firm
Let seek truth in our polity
Let us seek truth for our polity
Let us seek boldness
Let us seek fairness
For ourselves
For our political allies
For our foes
For our opponents
For the NPP, NDC
For the PPP, CPP
For the PNC, GNPP
For the UFP
For all and sundry

In the midst of nepotistic brokerage
In the midst of pen-armed robbery
In the midst of class conflicts
In the midst of “tribal” divisions
In the midst of political robbery
In the midst of street children
Elections bought with it all
With free computers
With free bicycles
With free chamber-pots
With free pieces of cloth
With free cutlasses
With free fishing nets
With free Toyota 4 X 4
With free Schnapps

Let us challenge ourselves
To stand for the truth
To seek the truth
To work for the truth
Coerced silence is not peace
Coerced concession is not peace
Coerced congratulations is not peace

*Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D., is a nationalist Denkyira beauty. She is a trained
oral historian cum sociologist and Professor in the USA. She lives in Pennsylvania
with her great mentor and teaches Africa-area studies at a college in Maryland. In
her pastime, she writes what critics have called “populist hyperbolic, satirical”
poetry. She can be reached at akadumensema@yahoo.com My poems and essays on Ghanaweb
and elsewhere must not be reproduced in full or in part for any academic or
scholarly work without my written permission.