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NPP people continue to make a mockery of themselves

Sun, 30 Aug 2015 Source: Bokor, Michael J. K.

Folks, the NPP people continue to make a mockery of themselves as they furiously enact their "Concert Party" shows, this time, taking the performance to the international arena.

Here it is: "The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has taken its call on the Electoral Commission for the voters register to be replaced international. Joy News is learning that the party is filing petitions and arranging direct meetings with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the presidents of both Togo and Nigeria on the matter.

The NPP is also reaching out to the British and French Prime Ministers as well as the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The party is also said to have alerted President Barrack Obama’s government in a determined bid to bring international pressure on government and the electoral commission to replace the voters' register before next year’s general elections. Former National Chairman of the party, Peter Mac Manu told Joy News Kwakye Afreh Nuamah they are taking the issue seriously. (See: http://www.myjoyonline.com/…/npp-takes-calls-for-voter-regi…)

Meantime, Akufo-Addo has said that the NPP’s demand for a new voters register “is not for political gain” and that “We want a democracy where Ghanaians, not foreigners, can rightfully and confidently determine who their leaders should be, and also where the major stakeholders have no qualms, whatsoever, about the outcome of elections.”

He recounted how, since 1992, the NPP has been the only party that has been the lead instigator of electoral reforms in Ghana. The introduction of transparent ballot boxes, photo voters’ ID card, and a biometric voters’ register in 2012, he said, have all been at the behest of the NPP. The NDC, on the contrary, have always been opposed to any form of electoral reforms.

“I remember when the NPP proposed a photo voters’ ID card to replace the thumbprint ID card, the then Attorney General, my good friend and senior, Dr. Obed Asamoah, opposed it. When the NPP proposed a biometric registration, the EC, at the time, described the proposal as unheard off. Because of our advocacy and the benefits of these reforms to the stability of Ghana, these were widely accepted by all at the end of the day,” Akufo-Addo noted (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/NPP-s-call-for-new-register-not-for-electoral-gain-Akufo-Addo-378154).

MY REACTION

Let me take on the NPP and its Akufo-Addo, first in the context of the so-called reforms that the NPP is being credited for. If those reforms were helpful to our democracy, why did the NPP reject the outcome of Elections 2012, even after all those reforms were implemented? Why did Akufo-Addo dash to the Supreme Court to fight a cause founded on mere technicalities and not the direct polls cast?

Boasting of prime-moving such reforms yet turning round to reject poll results when defeated smacks of hypocrisy and mischief. The agitations about the voters register are clearly aimed at achieving the NPP’s political objectives and cannot be said to be anything other than “a political gain”. But such agitations are misplaced, especially when the avenues for debating the issue locally haven’t yet been exhausted.

Bothering the international community with this pesky concern about the voters register won't win votes for the NPP. It only exposes it as a party still unsure of how to reach out to the electorate to prevail over them for their support at the polls in December 2016.

The EC has already insisted that the current voters register is credible enough for use, even though it will do all in its power to ensure that anything wrong anywhere in it will be corrected if and when detected. The EC has asked all the political parties to furnish it with reports containing any anomaly detected so it can work closely with them to solve problems.

Despite all, the NPP people are still crying all over the place, using bogus findings from warped documents to ratchet up their rogue and sterile book politics.

By making their political roguery so "international", they have only one objective, which is to smear the EC and all those not supporting their wolf-crying manouevres.

Why can't these NPP people think seriously about how to do proper politics to win votes? If they think such manouevres will force the hands of donors and the international community to deny the Mahama-led administration any genuine request it makes for financial and technical support, they are deceived. Those in the international community trust Mahama more than they do the Kapwewe Akufo-Addo.

Why are these NPP people so shallow-minded and anachronistic in doing modern-day politics?

A very loud and resounding Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea to them!!

I shall return…

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Columnist: Bokor, Michael J. K.