NPP Petition: Countdown to Judgement Day (Part IV)

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Item Four: Aren’t the NPP members jumping the gun?
My good friends, I hear there is an air of optimism and streaks of ecstasy gripping the NPP camp that come August 29, victory is theirs to relish. They are said to be jubilating already that the Supreme Court will rule in their favour. We’ve been told that Kumasi is agog with that spirit, apparently because of how the local pro-NPP FM radio stations are fine-tuning issues and creating the impression that the petitioners are on a winning trail.
Then also, they are basing their optimism on pronouncements made by some high-ranking NDC personalities (Dr. Kwabena Adjei, NDC Chairman, and a Minister of State, Fiifi Kwetey) regarding “the winner-takes-all” syndrome to suggest that these NDC people are frightened by the onrushing bad news that the Supreme Court’s verdict will bring.
Others, led by Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare (alias Kwaku Azar) are skirting around the online media, picking headlines of news report to boost their morale of an NPP victory. Their premise is that the headlines over the past few days point to an NPP victory. Thus, their question: “Do the headlines tell us something?”
Here are some of those headlines being used:
“Election petition: I never said Akufo-Addo shouldn’t go to Court—Pianim”; “Let's unite to eliminate winner takes all syndrome—Kwabena Adjei”; “Akufo-Addo is incapable of inciting violence—Hassan Ayariga”; “NPP’s National Executive Council to meet today”; “Mahama to meet Akufo-Addo before petition judgment”; “Election Petition: “Going for a review is constitutional”—Amaliba”; “Election Petition: It’s 50–50—Says NDC Lawyer”; “IEA’s advice is bogus – Asiedu Nketia”; “Prez Mahama's Church Calls For Prayers”; and “God told me to resign—Ex-Pope Benedict”.
I don’t blame them for thinking that way and behaving as such to demonstrate how they are dancing themselves lame before the actual dancing begins. Flashback: They made a huge public display of such emotions before Election 2008 with their kangaroo dance and bombastic speeches and claims. They repeated those sentiments with a “one-touch” victory at Election 2012. It all exploded in their faces and sent them spiraling to the dark chamber of the Supreme Court.
Now that they have begun re-enacting these scenarios in anticipation of their self-fulfilling prophecies, I can only pity them for not learning any lesson at all to guide their conduct. They can’t still come to terms with reality to know that elections are won at the polls.
They are self-assured that the Supreme Court will rule against President Mahama and the NDC, forgetting that the petitioners couldn’t prove any wrong-doing against both. Neither could they convincingly debunk the arguments raised by the Electoral Commission that the issues regarding the pink sheets that they regard as water-tight evidence are mere administrative/clerical or transpositional errors that did not dispute the outcome of Election 2012.
Throughout the proceedings regarding the “Battle of Evidence” (thanks to Justice Atuguba), the petitioners did not produce any evidence to confirm that Election 2012 was fraught with malpractices or that the results were not a reflection of the true political will of the electorate. They didn’t challenge any result at any polling station. They concentrated attention on entries in pink sheets and allegations that they would later run away from.
So, almost at the end of the road, what is there to prop up their self-assurances of victory? I don’t see anything working to their advantage as far as their demand for the nullification of over 4 million votes before Akufo-Addo can emerge as winner is concerned. Should Akufo-Addo be looking to win elections on the basis of votes cast for him or those cast for President Mahama that he wants annulled? Isn’t it disturbing that even then, the petitioners haven’t been able to prove that President Mahama and the NDC did anything irregular or that the EC colluded with them to rig the elections?
So, what are they talking about, after all? Can the verdict favour them without their providing direct evidence to persuade anybody that indeed the elections were rigged?
I shall return…
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