NPP Must Get Serious

It sounds absolutely bizarre wild claims by the opposition NPP that there was wanton manipulation of the electoral figures by a collaboration between the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the media that favoured President John Dramani Mahama. The question is as to whether NPP agents were asleep at polling centres, collation centres and EC’s strong room when authenticating the electoral figures that produced the final results.

Putting it apt by the Commonwealth Observer Group Perhaps the interim report by the Commonwealth Observer Group of 9th December places the process of vote count and tabulation vis-à-vis the role of party agents in proper perspective:

“The vote count at the polling stations was transparent, with party agents able to follow the process closely. This was also the case during the tabulation process. At the polling station level party agents were able to get a copy of the result and could therefore check and verify the results later tabulated and announced at the constituency and national levels. Results from polling stations and constituencies were also broadcast extensively on TV, radio and online, enabling people to follow on an on-going basis as the final results of the 2012 election were calculated.”

Duty of party agents

A cardinal duty performed by the party agents, right from the polling station level through the collation centres at the constituency level to the EC’s Strong room is for them to authenticate the figures by signing the record sheets before the declaration of the results at all these levels. For the NPP that has over the years mastered the art of fighting elections in this country to be making claims that figures authenticated by their won agents before declaration were wrong figures, then something has seriously gone amiss. There can be only two ways to look at this: either the NPP party agents at all levels of processing the electoral results were asleep or the opposition party’s leadership is simply crying wolf to save their disfigured face after giving their followers false hope before the elections. It is however difficult to believe the NPP agents were not up to the task, which if even true, can not be blamed on the agents but the leadership of the party who assigned them the critical job. But that cannot be the case. The poor party agents did what was required of them on the day by thoroughly crosschecking every detail before appending their signatures.

Compromise

What the NPP leadership is insinuating therefore is that their agents were compromised by the so-called EC-NDC collaborators who, they claim, stole the election for President Mahama.

How can anybody convince right thinking Ghanaians that someone like Mr Kwabena Agyapong, who led the NPP delegation in the EC’s Strong Room signed onto wrong electoral figures of his presidential candidate before certification by the EC chairman for computation and final declaration?

EC Media stole 1 million votes for Mahama

The most ridiculous of all the claims has been that which was made by the General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, the EC and the media stole one million votes for President Mahama. The NPP has particularly been on the necks of Metro TV, Joy FM and Peace FM regarding this baseless accusation. It is on the back of this accusation that hoodlums of the opposition party have physically attacked several journalists from Metro TV and Joy FM, following which the party is now shedding crocodile tears in asking for forgiveness from them.

What makes NPP’s claim further interesting is that the media houses they are attacking in such a vicious manner are pro-NPP networks. It would be recalled that Metro TV and Joy FM together with the rest of the Multi-Media Group were at some points in the recent past boycotted by the NDC government for biased reportage.

Dr Afari Gyan

To keep attacking the integrity of Dr Afari Gyan in claiming that he stole the election for the NDC is most laughable. The EC chairman was right in declaring the election on Sunday 9th December 2012 against NPP protest. Before the elections, he made it clear to all political party’s to be vigilant on election day since that was the only key to a successful election.

It cannot be true that NPP agents were not vigilante enough on the day as to allow the EC and the media, particularly perceived NPP networks, to steal the mandate of the Ghanaian electorate for President Mahama.

Political symbolism

The NPP’s dispute over the 2012 election is in keeping with its political symbolism. Apart from the results of the1996 election, which the Danquah Busiah offspring grudgingly accepted, they have disputed every election result since 1951. As they envisaged, the stakes were even much higher for them in 2012 due to several factors including revenue from oil, the anticipated accelerated development by another NDC government considering the Mills government’s unprecedented record and the fear of the unknown for the party on a wide range of issues going forward.

Anger of NPP supporters

Of course, the supporters of the NPP got very angry with the leadership for leading them to another defeat. According to Nana Akomea, Communications Director of the Akufo-Addo-led opposition party, he was saved by a hairs breadth when angry supporters of the party attempted to attack him. So clearly to way to go, by NPP’s estimation, is to do everything to assuage the supporters anger towards the leadership by misleading them that they actually won the election but EC and the media stole the mandate for the NDC. One logical question to ask is also as to why the NPP won only 121 parliamentary seats as against NDC’s 150 plus 3 independent and 1 PNC.

Mahama won the election hands down

Let it be told on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere that President John Dramani Mahama won the 2012 presidential election decisively, to avoid a runoff. The victory is as clear as daylight and there is very little anybody can do about it, especially now that it is the case that the NPP has no “concrete evidence” to prove their wild claim in court, if they will indeed go to court.