NPP has problem with anger management- Spio-Garbrah

A National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwart, Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah has taken a swipe at the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) describing it as a group with a problem of anger management.

According to him, the post-election conduct of the NPP and its supporters shows how awkward the leadership of the party has handled its anger.

The opposition NPP has rejected the results of the 2012 general elections declaring John Mahama as winner and has since petitioned the Supreme Court to invalidate the declaration of president Mahama as president-elect.

The party also boycotted the inaugural ceremony of the president Mahama noting that attending the event will undermine its case in court.

However former president Kufuor who is also an elder of the NPP attended the swearing in though some party members wanted to prevent him.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s current affairs Talkshow Ekosii-Sen on Tuesday, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah noted that the actions of the NPP leadership after the election show desperate attempts to divert the anger of the supporters of the party.

He asserted that the election was not rigged by the EC for the NDC as purported by the NPP but rather a face saving tactics by the party to calm nerves of its supporters.

“I think the NPP should know how to manage the anger of its supporters well because I can see it is lacking proper management of anger. When we go into psychology, we know that sometimes when something happens to a person or group like the NPP defeat, some may get depression, anger, retention among others so the reaction from the party is not strange. But I expected the party leadership to manage it well than what they are doing. It is not surprising that the supporters are pouncing on the leadership because they were assured that they won but at the long run it didn't turn so. So in order to save the leadership from shame, they are saying it was rigged which is not the case. These boycotts are attempts by the party to save the shame of losing the election. The party must go back and manage the anger well than these tactics” he stressed.

He compared the purported irregularities of the election to students writing examination in which some fail and others pass. “There are no elections without irregularities. If you have 26,000 students writing various examinations, definitely some will pass and others will fail. It is same as the elections, some of the electoral officers fail to put figures well, and others also fail to record the figures so these cannot amount to the election being rigged. The NPP argument of rigged election cannot stand”.

Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah noted that the EC can never have any ulterior motive against any political party because it is working for all Ghanaians. “ Isn't it the same EC which supervised elections since 2000 and NPP won twice, so how can we say it rigged this one in favor of NDC”.

On the issue of political appointments in the Mahama/Amissah Arthur administration, Dr. Spio Garbrah noted that the president must be given free hand to operate.

The acting president of the Dominion University College said though he hasn't been approached to take an appointment in the Mahama government, he is ever ready to serve his country if given the opportunity.