NPP first reaction to 2012 election declaration was violence not peace

It has become a household phrase these days. ‘Without Justice, there can be no peace’. This was heard just before the December 2012 general elections and even now as the country awaits the election petition ruling by the Supreme Court.

It would seem at first glance that the phrase is self explanatory, but a former Deputy Chief of Staff under the Mills Administration has voiced his discomfort with the use of the phrase and has, therefore, called on Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the Minority Leader in Parliament, to clarify what he meant by “there should be peace, but there must also be justice from the Supreme Court’s decision”.

“I am trying to understand it. What exactly is honourable Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu saying? What is he saying? We are in the Supreme Court. Does it imply that the Supreme Court does not dispense justice? Alex Segbefia quizzed.

According to him, the Minority leader’s statement is akin to that of the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) just before the 2012 elections.

“In 2012 December or November, when we were going for the elections, there was a call for peace. Up and down the country we had these calls. When the leader of the NPP actually attended the peace talks, if you remember, by Otumfuo, he didn’t tow the line with everybody else. He actually went down the line of saying, yes, we need peace, but without justice, there can be no peace”.

“But he was one person who was not talking peace on its own and his comments at that meeting put him apart from everybody else who, more or less, spoke that day. It is very important to remember this. Why? The results of the elections came out…the reaction of the NPP was not initially, we are going to court. In fact, we had them camping outside the square. Journalists were attacked. Violence was actually the initial reaction from supporters of the NPP,” he claimed.

Mr. Segbefia further described the actions and utterances of the leadership of the opposition NPP, in these trying times in Ghana’s history, as “history trying to repeat itself” and “wants it to be closed immediately”.

He made this observation on Citi Fm’s current affairs program, ‘Big Issues’, during a panel discussion on the clarion call for peace before, during and after the much expected verdict on the election 2012 petition at the Supreme Court.