By: Zakaria Tanko Musah

News trickling in from home to those of us in the Diaspora is not pleasing to the ears at all. Reports say the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) sought an ex parte motion to prevent the Electoral Commission (EC) from declaring the winner of the elections even after the Tain Constituency results- the only remaining constituency yet to conduct an election. The reason is that they allege there has been some irregularities in the Volta Region- a strong hold of the Opposition National Democratic (NDC) government and therefore want those issues to be investigated before declaring the results. Meanwhile, the fact of the matter is that it was the NPP (at a meeting between them, NDC and the EC) that suggested that Tain should be the deciding battle ground. The NDC and the EC though under no obligation to accept that suggestion, concurred for the sake of peace.

The buzz word to describe this 360 degree turn by the NPP can only be one - mischief at its best. Going to court on a public holiday and requesting the court – a public body to sit in blatant disregard to the fact that it is legally a non- working day in Ghana just goes to demonstrate the desperation in the NPP camp.

Yes technically, they have the constitutional right to pursue that cause of action but why do it on a public holiday and as an ex parte? Please note that an ex parte judicial proceeding is conducted for the benefit of only one party. This type of motion is increasingly being frowned upon in legal circles as it is at odds with the bedrock feature of due process - the need to give fair notice to parties who may be affected by any legal proceedings.

There are instances where an ex parte motion is necessary such as where adequate notice of judicial proceedings to concerned parties has the potential of causing irreparable harm to one or more of those parties. For example if a spouse should come to court to allege that he/ she is suffering abuse, it is reasonable to conclude that serving notice to the other party could only end up making life more unbearable for the victim.

But in a case where Ghana is at a cross road - I mean an uneasy and unholy calm in the country which even those of us in the Diaspora could feel; a situation where the whole world has been made aware that the winner of the Presidential election will be declared after Tain- what purpose was the NPP seeking to achieve by their action. Create a constitutional crisis ehh!!!!. They careless about the consequences of such an action? This is callousness of the highest order.

I know there are decent minded people in the NPP who do not subscribe to this nonsense. But their undignified silence will do the party no good. They need to act with some urgency to salvage the dwindling image of the party. For, come 2012 they will be going back to Ghanaians to ask for their mandate and with these provocative, divisive and vexatious conducts, will they have the morale right to look at the peace loving Ghanaian in the face and ask to be considered to steer the affairs of Ghana?

Can the level minded NPP members not read between the lines? I mean somebody full of an ill conceived believe that he is ordained to rule Ghana, and perhaps seeing this as his last chance at the Presidency, bent of doing anything to achieve that unachievable goal irrespective of the lasting damage it could cause to his party. They need to stop it now for it has taken all of them years to build their party and should not stand aloof for it to be destroyed. And to the President Kufuor- notice is served that he as the Chief Executive of the land has the overreaching responsibility of ensuring that there is a smooth and peaceful transition. Anything shot of that will be unacceptable and he should be prepared to grapple with his conscience for the rest of his life. Perhaps some minds in the NPP are conducting themselves in this disgraceful manner so as to plunge Ghana into a constitutional crisis- whereby if after January 7 2009 no winner is declared, and then constitutionally Ghana will be without a President. I dread the consequences of such a situation- but that will not succeed- because Ghanaians deserve better and that is what they will get. The EC the constitutionally mandated referee will respect the will of the people and go ahead with the declaration of the winner after Tain as agreed by the NPP and NDC and save Ghana this avoidable danger staring us in the face. For goodness sake, the task ahead is enormous and varied. Even advance countries are struggling in these uncertain climates. And yet instead of putting this election behind us and think about how to make life better for our country men and women the NPP is bent on taking us down such a destructive route- just because they can not come to terms with the simple fact that the people have spoken in no uncertain terms –change. No, that should not be allowed to happen and every peace loving person the world over should stand up and say enough is enough to this fascism. The will of the people must prevail.

Writer: Zakaria Tanko Musah

Ghanaian Journalist currently studying in the UK ztanko@yahoo.com