Feature Article,
By Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

I smelt a rat as soon as I read the latest article by the Executive Director of the The Danquah Institute. I almost called this article, “Danquah Institute Concedes Akufo-Addo's Impending Defeat!” Now, why would the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, deem it fit to devote a complete lie to an article surreptitiously on vigilance? Why would he write a thing like this “Unlike Nana Akufo-Addo, John Mahama has no track record of adopting the gentlemanly course of gracefully accepting defeat after losing an election, simply because he has never tasted defeat at the highest level of political competition where the stakes are most high“? One thing is clear: they have a plan. What is not clear is the nature of the plan. From the way he dwelt so much on violence, it has to be something to do with violence. Difficult to tell who is pulling that off, but a losing candidate who has clearly come out to say that he wants to be in power “at all cost”, whose right-hand man is sanctimoniously complaining against political violence in a feature article that ominously portends that the Akufo-Addo camp are one-step ahead of the Ghanaian electorate. The plan is simple. In the event that Nana Akufo-Addo is rejected by Ghanaians, he is not going to accept defeat.

That is what I took away from an article with the title, “Vigilance Is The Motto For December 7” By: Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Feature Article of Saturday, 1 December 2012, Columnist: Otchere-Darko, Gabby Asare. It was not much of a success in terms of public attention, but it is a document that must be read very carefully and analysed correctly. Otchere-Darko is testing the grounds, if he gets away with it, we are all in trouble! What Ochere-Darko sought to do in that special psy-op article, is to prepare the grounds, for public acceptance of much expected intransigence on the part of Nana Akufo-Addo to graciously accept defeat, and refuse to congratulate the winner. Some say, his recent utterances at the IEA debate, where he valued the stability of the Ouattara regime, over and above any claims by the Ivorians to the Jubilee Oil Fields, suggest the possibility of the involvement of some oil hungry jackals to throw their weight behind Akufo-Addo and put some investments in the conflict. And they like it. It gives them more power over the President than any democracy can provide! The President, after the war, then becomes a perfect puppet. Since it would not be the people who put him there, they would of necessity, not have much of a say under such a government. It makes it easier to, for example, for them to pollute our environment and get away with it, which is good for profits.

Those who put them in power, will be directly controlling Ghana, from the office of the President. So the fires can be stoked very easily, since that has been the aim of the colonialists since the very day of our independence. They never give up! They only change plans. Otchere-Darko's article needs to be read very carefully with these reflections in mind by every Ghanaian who knows Ghana is all that we have, and therefore worth defending! The message Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is seeking to convey is a distortion of our recent history. In the first place, it is simply not the case that “in Akufo-Addo and the NPP, Ghanaians have a track record from which to draw considerable comfort.” The misleading impression preparing the minds of the public is that somehow Nana Akufo-Addo graciously conceded defeat glosses over the fine details that tell a completely different story. Mr. Akufo-Addo did not graciously concede in 2008! Mr. Otchere-Darko writes:

“No matter the outcome calm must prevail and we must return to living our lives in peace with each other. NDC, under Jerry John Rawlings, with the late John Evans Atta-Mills as its Presidential Candidate, did well to the admiration of all to accept defeat and hand over peacefully in 2000. The NPP also has an admirable history of not just committing to peace with words, but also with actions, even when their opponent win with a razor thin margin as occurred in December 2008. So, in Akufo-Addo and the NPP, Ghanaians have a track record from which to draw considerable comfort. Can we say the same would happen if John Mahama or the NDC were to lose next week? Their record speaks for itself and all Ghanaians must not tolerate any kind of impropriety, unfairness, or cheating in this election. We are a democracy and the people must be allowed to speak without threat of violence or danger. Should any of these issues arise on Election Day, whoever is in power must prosecute the offenders with equal application of the law, no matter what party they support. Violence and unequal application of the law cannot be tolerated in a free society.”

Mr. Otchere-Darko is trying desperately to deceive somebody. I don't know exactly who, but it must be someone who does not know that during the 2008 campaign, when the NPP was in power, and Nana Akufo-Addo was its flag-bearer, and “monarch of all that he surveyed”, his campaign team became the most aggressive and dangerous group in town, wherever he went. They did not hesitate to beat up opponents who crossed their paths, any time, and anywhere. The whole nation saw to their horror and dismay, the beating up of the body guards of the Asomdweehene of blessed memory, during the 2008 grand durbar of the Oguaa Fetu Afahye, by far the most important traditional annual festival in the Central Region, and the Akufo-Addo team thought it wise to make their presence felt, with a show of force. It was hardly an isolated incident. Other incidents such as the beating of the body guard of the ex-president Rawlings, at the Manhyia Palace, by these same body guards of Nana Akufo-Addo, was also done publicly. The only explanation they came up with was that the body guard of ex-President Rawlings, was armed. It was as though they thought body guards only carry bananas!

Rawlings cameraman also received severe beatings at the hands of the same body guards of Akufo-Addo in a hotel lobby in Kumasi. The sad thing about this event was that it was reported Nana Akufo-Addo was just a few meters away from the fracas and stood watching, and even smiled at a point. All approval and no condemnation! It is therefore a bit shocking and annoying to read from Akufo-Addo's henchman the following words: “Violence and unequal application of the law cannot be tolerated in a free society.” But that is not at all the end of the story. What is even more interesting about Nana Akufo-Addo's so-called “gracious acceptance of defeat”, inner-circles in the Akufo-Addo camp, according Mr. Otchere-Darko they were five, who had access to a special report written by Professor Larry Gibson. Dr. Arthur Kennedy quotes from the report to indicate that the Akufo-Addo were aware of how badly the campaign was going, and even knew that he had lost the race in advance. The first time we got a hint of the Larry Gibson prediction was from his book, “Chasing the elephant into the bush”. This is how Colin Essamuah put it in his book review:

“Dr. Kennedy makes clear, line after line in his book, that the NPP as a corporate body, then and now, suffered fatally from a delusional triumphalism that electoral defeat was impossible, and therefore, unthinkable. This illogical belief affected every political decision, and every propaganda step they took during the campaign. It is delusional triumphalism which produced 18 presidential aspirants, including ALL the senior ministers in the Kufuor cabinet, including his blood brother, Kwame Addo-Kufuor, plus three sojourners in Europe and America, Boakye Agyarko, Agyei-Barwuah and the author himself. It is the delusion of victory that produced the inherent belief in party ranks that the opposition NDC was no factor, even though as early as August, 2008, the NPP had been warned that the non-existent opposition NDC could force a second round, courtesy the advice of Professor Larry Gibson.” [Book Review: Chassing The Elephant Into The Bush: The Politics of Complacency – by Colin Essamuah, 5 January 2010, ModernGhana.com http://bit.ly/yB7sQq]

This did not prevent them to wake up very early in the morning of a Public Holiday, the 1st of January, 2009, to file an ex-pate motion behind the back of every Ghanaian, including the President, the Electoral Commission, and the NDC! This showed the level of their mischief and cowardice at the same time. If that plot had succeeded, it would have immediately plunged our country into a serious civil strife, and probably war. The action was so disgraceful and ill-conceived that it compelled the late Mr. B. J. da Rocha to come out to publicly condemn the action. President Kufour made it clear that Nana Akufo-Addo was not an electoral commissioner, and could not declare results, and that he was going to go by what the electoral commissioner certifies as the winner. That, together with intense pressure from with the party and the diplomatic community, was what finally persuaded Akufo-Addo that it was game-over. This is the story behind his so-called “gracious concession of defeat”! Nothing to write home about, unless one intends to tell blatant lies like Otchere-Darko does in his article.

It does look as though the entire campaign of Nana Akufo-Addo has been run by a team of confidence-tricksters. How the desperate bid by Nana Akufo-Addo to legally subvert the will of the people of Ghana, and rather plunge the country into chaos turns up purely as having “a track record from which to draw considerable comfort”, shows that we are dealing with professional liars! But if they would just lie to us and leave us alone, that would have been bearable. But no, they want to lie to you and control you with their lies! The reason why Akufo-Addo has been keen to falsely project himself as having “graciously conceded” in 2008, is because he is in dire need of a good reputation in order to carry out his diabolical plans. Just like 2008, he knows he is losing. All credible opinion polls have consistently made that clear. We have on the list, Africa Confidential, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and other external players traditionally sympathetic to the NPP. So the writing is not only on the wall, it is also in the news.

So why would this Akufo-Addo right-hand man spend his time speculating about the possibility of President Mahama not accepting defeat, when from every indication he is winning? And if he is winning, who must be getting ready to accept the defeat? Is it not Akufo-Addo? Otchere-Darko is telling us their own preparations so far, towards that eventuality. It is important to note that every single one of the accusations that the Akufo-Addo camp are levelling against the current NDC administration were used even when their own political party, the NPP was in power. This was in spite of wanton beatings of political opponents, including internal party opponents! In fact, in the so-called concession speech he was hurriedly forced to make in order to save the image of the party, he complained that his supporters, members of the NPP, were being beaten, and the NPP government did nothing about it!

From the latest article from Mr. Otchere-Darko, it shows clearly that they are still not tired of making these allegations, irrespective of which government is in power, and even see greater advantage of a more credible spin under an NDC government than their own NPP! They know they have lost the elections in advance, but since they have vowed to take power “at all cost”, they are probably activating their “Plan B”. They are getting ready for litigation, and are tying hard to psychologically paint the potential winner as the devil and the cheat, whilst in reality, their plan is to subvert the will of the people of Ghana! In reality, Nana Akufo-Addo has never been known to magnanimously accept defeat. We all remember the brouhaha after another “flag-bearership” candidate defeated him in Sunyani. The winner of that election finally won the 2000 elections, so the reluctance to accept defeat is almost a reflex action when it comes to Akufo-Addo, yet Otchere-Darko writes:

“The reality is this. Unlike Nana Akufo-Addo, John Mahama has no track record of adopting the gentlemanly course of gracefully accepting defeat after losing an election, simply because he has never tasted defeat at the highest level of political competition where the stakes are most high. Given his recent implied complicity with the aggression upon his fellow Ghanaians, how can we trust that John Mahama’s rhetoric calling for peace will match his action when the votes are tallied and he comes up short? The record so far shows that he and his government are unable to carry out their duties as elected officials in a professional and nonpartisan manner. We cannot afford a ruling party whose key leaders stick their heads in the sand or look the other way while others are brutalized by violent supporters of his own party.”

It is nice to know that the inner-circle of the Akufo-Addo camp are aware of their own impending defeat and are preparing for it. But considering their “track record” of pretending to be makers of peace, rather than the causers of troubles that they are, these open speculations about which of the two candidates must concede defeat published in the heat of the campaign raises an eye brow or two. More so, as the story is deliberately spiced with a litany of royal lies, designed to elicit specific emotional responses. This shows clearly that this problem is not just a problem that must be left in the hands of the winning President John Mahama to solve, but the whole nation.

From the article, it clear that Ghanaians have two big hurdles ahead of them in the coming weeks: a defeated Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who stubbornly would refuse to concede defeat. Oh, yes! That is how desperate they are! How exactly that is going to play out will depend upon to what extent people believe that Akufo-Addo genuinely, freely, willingly, and gladly conceited defeat in the 2008 elections. There aren't that many in Ghana. That is why the Danquah Institute is putting in the extra hard work to quickly invent them. I find this to be alarmingly significant also because, for the first time in the history of our country, an individual has been identified by a report produced by group of experts commissioned by the US Africa Command as saying,

“The role of the NPP leader and expected presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, will be crucial, and early signals suggest reason for worry. Akufo-Addo is desperate to mobilize support, and he has played the ethnic card, referring to the NPP as “We the Akans,” urging his supporters to “all die be die”—that is, they should be willing to die to ensure the NPP's victory…” from: Scenarios: A Contested Election Result, GHANA: Assessing Risks to Stability, By David W. Throup Contributor: Jennifer G. Cooke, Richard Downie, Jul 7, 2011.

Ghana was very lucky that in 2008, we had a President from his own party who knew him very well from his own bitter experience, and was ready to put his big feet down. Akufo-Addo's political tautology of calling on the Kufour Administration to protect NPP supporters, could have been laughable, but for ominous warnings for the future. In his speech "acknowledging" the announcement of the Electoral Commissioner, he called on President J.A. Kufuor, the security forces and the law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety and security of the party's supporters, because “I am concerned that if positive steps are not taken to protect and to reassure them, they will be compelled to defend themselves.” All die be die!” was already there in his concession speech, before even the campaign began! And the government then, was an NPP government! We should keep that in mind, just in case...

For Life, the Environment, and Social Justice!

Nana Akyea Mensah, Ghana Steering Committee,
P-AI, Social Media Campaigns | December 2, 2012
SocialMedia@panafricanistinternational.org

Pan-Africanist International - a grammar of Pan-Africanism and its manners of articulation!
www.panafricanistinternational.org