Opinions of Saturday, 5 January 2013

Columnist: AlWaiz, Husseini Y Baba

Conjured NPP Figures will never see Justice at the Court

Re: Statement by the NPP UK

Conjured NPP Figures will never see Justice at the Court

We of the NDC USA communications team were shocked by the title of a statement released to the press by the NPP UK’s communications team to the effect that, “THERE IS NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE”, by implication, if the Supreme Court Judgment does not favor them, it presupposes ‘injustice’ to them, hence we will not see peace in the country.

However for them to be granted justice that they wish, they have to present an authentic and true evidence, which their gurus in Ghana failed to do, because their baseless analysis and mathematically contradictory figures they revealed recently to the media, leave much to be desired. And they would continue to regret for this, should they go ahead and present this to the judges. This would go a long way to affect the electoral fortunes of the party in the future.
After having convinced their supporters that, the NDC ‘rigged’ the elections, the burden of proof has become an albatross hanging round their necks. That was why it took them about three weeks to present some colossal and gargantuan figures they conjured, concocted and ‘cooked’, wanting the judiciary and the ordinary Ghanaians to believe as their ‘water-tight evidence’ of fraud.
Are they trying to tell us that, the observer teams-both home and especially abroad, led by the former president of Nigerian, Olushegun Obasanjo are not credible people? What about the entire West African, African and world leaders, who have attested to the authenticity of the elections and congratulated the president, do you think they will turn round and believe their claim that, the elections were rigged? And this is the first time(unprecedented) in the history of Ghana, we heard about a dozen heads of states, and international government representatives, expressing their intentions to come and grace the occasion of inauguration of the president on January 7th, 2013. The question is; would these international diplomats of high repute care to come to this all important event if they believe the NPP has a credible case of fraud at the court?
All these diplomats were following the campaign events prior to the elections, and were receiving postings through press and media attaches of their various embassies in Ghana-up-dating them on the country’s political state of affairs. So they were well aware ahead of time that, the NPP had made up their minds not to accept any election results, that would not declare them winners-they must win by hook or crook. So having known the more-often-than not incumbency advantage of getting re-elected, especially in Africa, they know the NPP’s allegation of rigging is baseless.

When we realized how the NPP was adopting all means possible (including stage-managing Konadu to form the NDP and bankrolling its activities, which ultimately became a deadly blow below the belt) to win the elections, the rank and file of our party, redoubled their efforts and hit the ground running, showcasing our achievements thus far and intensifying our door to door campaign, while using multi-dimensional approach-social media and internet inclusive to target the youthful group, which is social media-savvy, and this has yielded a rewarding result.

We would want to urged the NPP gurus and their communications team- home and abroad to stop building castles in the air and living in fool’s paradise, thinking that, these ‘evidence’ of electoral fraud they are presenting to the Supreme Court could stand the test of time and make the election results null and void, or make the Chief Justice declare Nana Addo the winner. Because their so-called evidence does not hold water.

Even the straw that broke the Camel’s back is their indefensible and intolerable legal fumble of implicating our seating and incumbent president in their petition-an action diametrically opposed to the constitution of the republic of Ghana. No wonder a leading member of their party, Ndubugri, a legal practitioner predicted recently that, adding the president in the legal litigation is a recipe for a failure at the court, at the first round.

They should brave themselves to unravel the 4Ws&H mystery: - Who connived with the EC? When they met? Where they met? Why they met? And How they met? This jigsaw which could hardly be solved will take them back to square one of failure and defeat and enable them wake up from their slumber of ‘hope’ in the lords of the Supreme Court.

Imagine a party, which always prides itself to be blessed with a ‘galaxy of legal gurus and intellectual luminaries’ to make such an unpardonable constitutional blunder. That should tell every Tom, Dick and Harry that, the NPP members are still in the state of shock and confusion-as a result of their terrible defeat, which they have never predicted, because they were so optimistic of victory before the elections to an extent that, Nana cronies have allocated all their ‘cabinet’ ministerial positions, which was dominated by the Akyem Mafias, and this was leaked to the media.

We have a proverb in our Hausa language that perfectly fits this scenario, which goes as, “Selling the fish inside the river, before catching them”. And we even get an information from the grapevine, that Nana Addo was seen by some party members rehearsing how to walk and talk to appear more ‘presidential,’ since he was on the ‘verge’ of assuming ‘presidential power’. And also embark on some ‘diplomatic trips’ abroad and was received by some heads of states. No wonder the wise says; if wishes were houses beggars would ride.

But if the NPP still believes that the elections were rigged and want Ghanaians to believe that, the Electoral Commission added 1.34 million plus votes to the president, as they recently alleged, then they should have to ponder over three phenomena that happened before the elections which boosted the NDC chance of one touch victory. First, take a look at the various developmental projects that were undertaken by Mills-Mahama administration and were commissioned before the elections nationwide-that have won our party so many votes, especially sympathy votes. Also consider the mammoth crowd at our various regional campaign rallies, coupled with the unique charisma and meek sense of demeanor of our president. All these factors and many more have contributed in winning us the hearts of 50.70% of Ghanaian electorate. And the NPP was able to hit that 47.7 percentage point, only due to their utopian free education propaganda, out of desperation and aggressiveness for power, which a lot of people have believed in. But they themselves know it would never come to fruition should they have won.
Instead of continuously fighting an already lost battle, the NPP should rather take stock of its activities and render a soul search of factors responsible for their predicament of two-term terrible electoral defeat. And if they would continuously and deliberately bury their heads in the sand like ostriches, pretending they do not see those factors, we would continuously expose those outstanding elements in the media limelight, which have the potentials to make it perpetually difficult for them to win any subsequent elections in Ghana, if they are not ready to take the bull by the horn and change a new leaf. Below are some of these factors:

• The NPP is known to be dominated by the Ashanti and Akyem people.
• The NPP always use a Northerner/Muslim, as second fiddle (without which they would not win) and drop him for presidency and go for an Ashanti or Akyem.
• The NPP always look down on other tribes and consider themselves superior than all.
A recent case in point was a statement by Ursula Owusu, saying, “Northerners would have been cattle shepherds, but for free education.”
• The NPP encourage their supporters to attack their opponents, hence their all “die be die” mantra that resulted in killing about five NDC supporters, when they lost.
• The NPP supporters and functionaries are the “defending champion” of indecent statement in the media,(led 14 out of 17 cases) courtesy; Media Foundation for West Africa.

No matter how long the legal tussle would last at the court, Nana Akufo Addo would never be declared the winner of the elections, going by this trivial evidence, which appears like an elementary school student project work-replete with bloopers and blunders. If the NPP members are not ready to shed off their ethnocentric “Yen Akanfuo” syndrome and begin to respect and to level the playing field for other tribes such as; Fantis, Ewes, Gas and Northerners, among others to be elected at their primaries to enable them contest for the presidency, then the miracle they expect to catapult them at the Castle (seat of government) would undoubtedly continue to be a distance mirage.

Husseini Y. Baba AlWaiz, member of the Communications Team, NDC USA