A Year After The Verdict, Will Elections Ever Change

Today marks exactly a year since the leaders of the New Patriotic Party offered a path of hope to a flawed 2012Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. That path was an 8-month trial, ending with a controversial 5:4 split majority verdict which held that, in spite of all the mounting of evidence, John Mahama was validly elected as President of the Republic of Ghana.

There were many who were skeptical of the evidence in the four months before the trial proper started in April 2013. We are happy to say that the formation of the multi-party pressure group, LET MY VOTE COUNT, played a very important role in public education during this long period of relative hiatus.

The NPP, CPP, PPP, and PNC, four of the biggest five political parties in Ghana all stated officially that the 2012 elections were flawed. So, it was no accident that LET MY VOTE COUNT ALLIANCE was a rainbow collation of patriotic Ghanaians, mostly young, who believed in justice and were convinced that the 2012 polls were bought and stolen by the ruling NDC.

We are glad to have played a very necessary peaceful role of public agitation and education regarding that stolen and bought verdict. We say the 2012 elections were bought and stolen because the evidence was that Government broke open the national vaults and took out an amazing $2.7 billion (of unbudgeted cash) in the last four months to throw it at the elections.

Cash in matches boxes were shared among voters queuing up to cast their ballots, laptops were procured at inflated prices to share to students, cars were bought for female students, cloths were shared among women and plenty of free cash were given to voters, while election officials were allegedly given money either to look the other way or to change figures from twenty seven (27) into twenty seven zero (270) on the pink sheet ofor election results.

The Let My Vote Count Alliance wish to give notice that from now on, and peaking next year, the group is being revived to lead the pressure on the EC to implement the necessary reforms to protect the peace, stability and growth of our democracy.

We have to do this because we have not been encouraged by the attitude of the EC since the Supreme Court decision and the recommendations by the judges, political parties and civil society to put in place the process fort reforms.

We wish to serve notice that we shall not compromise in our push for reforms. We will do whatever it takes, legally, forcefully, and loudly to make sure that the EC does what it has to do to give us the kind of credible electoral process that Ghana needs.

The EC has allowed a whole year to go without touching the reforms matter. We will not sit and watch another year to go by. We are therefore calling Ghanaians, well meaning Ghanaians, to join us now as we prepare to mobilise people to secure the reforms that our democracy need.

LET MY VOTE COUNT, DON’T DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY

Spokesperson

David Asante

0268220220