Fellow countrymen and women, dear readers, friends and foes alike, well wishers and almost everybody who cherishes in reading this article should be thankful to the Almighty God and Allah for where Ghanaians have successfully and peacefully arrived in our political history as a Nation. Peace be unto Ghana especially as we continue to enjoy the peace despite the provocative circum -stances that have unraveled at the Supreme Court sittings. Meanwhile, however, by popular request, the several emails that have flooded the author’s library and the unprecedented pressures and phone calls received and other information that have electronically inundated his publishing desk from all over the world - i.e. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK, the US, South Africa, Thailand, and back home in Ghana et cetera, just to name a few, he has no other option but to seriously acquiesce to their plea and be compelled to cause to reproduce the article that was published some four months ago for those who never sighted it nor read about that to know the expertise and experience of the classical doctor of elections and the history he was making now for himself and family thereafter. By his own “admissibility” of initial ‘guilt’ of excess votes for which he feels ashamed to accept as ‘overvotes’, he pleads now with the SC that the numerous faults detected by the Petitioners after very careful scrutiny from the compilation and collation of the ‘’Pink Sheets’’ that have become a household name, all their sleepless days and nights of useful exercise to unravel this gargantuan electoral fraud to prevent an imminent civil war be regarded as ‘classical’ errors because, in his own candid opinion, he could be exonerated to deserve the Court’s pardon and acquittal. However, to the 1st Respondent’s counsel, Tony Lithur, who, until this special Petition Hearing, many people across the entire length and breadth of Ghana, thought he was a real gentle -man, both at home and the court room, had proved otherwise by his infantile arrogance and childish demeanour to all and sundry, that in fact, he was the opposite. To him, such errors were clerical and/or transpositional errors. To Mr. Quashie-Idun, who doubles as Counsel for the 2nd Respondents and happens to be the son of the late celebrated Quashie-Idun of the legal fraternity of the last generation, they were typographical errors. To Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, such unpardonable errors were administrative ones. Over to you Joe Lartey, who now celebrates his 86th birthday this week. Please read on and enjoy the gospel according to Afari Djan, the world’s No.1 elections administrator, who could have exercised restraint and circumspect to avoid the inevitable national and/or international disgrace that has smeared his person if he had waited for few hours before rushing to declaring the results that, to some friends, he must have been hypnotized into doing that.
SYNONYMOUS
Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan’s name has probably become synonymous with the gargantuan electoral fraud of the millennium. Until the general elections of December 7, 2012 in Ghana, almost the whole wide world knew and held him in high esteem as an international celebrity when it comes to the conduct of elections. But little did we Ghanaians know that his actions and inactions somehow were fraught with some uncertainties to paint him like an angel. Since every bad turn deserves a favour, and behind/beside every successful man there has always been a woman, this doctor of letters and former senior lecturer at the Ghana’s premier university, would not pass the test of time now as you read this piece without having muddied himself with, or more so, stigmatized his name with electoral fraud and believe you me, Ghanaians, yet unborn, will come to learn of this name in future. The name ‘Afari Djan’, who, until the 2012 elections, was widely acclaimed and inarguably accepted as a magic wand when elections were concerned, does not, any longer, conjure any prominence at all – probably, not till the end of his lifetime because of his involvement with the collapse of Ghana if, but not for the wisdom of the NPP hierarchy. Periodically, this wonder -ful man until this particular election, had been appointed by either the AU or the UN in the last 10 years to oversee many elections that, otherwise, would have brought untoward hardships that normally degenerate civil strife and conflicts arising out of electoral malfeasance. These international bodies have tapped his expertise and experience to ensure people did not flee their homelands to live as refugees in foreign lands – and all these, he has done with precision and perfection.
NICHE – GRACE TO GRASS
If there were any particular man or individual who has gradually carved a niche for himself in the last 20 years as a public servant in the West African sub-region, then you don’t relegate this man to the background in terms of elections. The embattled electoral wizard has done extremely well to raise the flagship of Ghana aloft. Fine, but his involvement by acquiescing to the treachery of the NDC to enable their flagbearer, who it is believed, was Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood’s student at the Assemblies of God Church’s Sunday School for years, to become president of Ghana by all means and at all cost, and whatever circum -stances it might be, or form it takes, was nothing of concern to him. It is rather unfortunate that both the doctor and the president have allowed themselves to be possessed by greed, avarice, anger, arrogance and scramble for wealth and to be deceived by the devil and serpent like the Adam and Eve’s era to bring untold hardships on Ghanaians. Despite the religious doctrine imparted to him, he never inculcated anything meaningful that could change his lifestyle. And to the doctor of letters; after being groomed by Justice Josiah Ofori Boateng, chairman in 1992 when he was one of the two vice chairmen alongside the late Essumejahene, Oduro Numapau, one would have thought that he was a ‘born again’ but, since 1996 that he took the mantle of leadership of the EC, his performance has not been quite above average except for the international community who still regard him as a gem. He has always been the rejected ‘prophet’ at home. The devilish and evil course he wrongly chose was pregnant with Jezebel’s mindset and his actions/inactions could have plunged the whole country in an inferno, Indonesian tsunami, Kenya or Cote d’Ivoire. His penchant arrogance was climaxed by saying that any dissatisfied Ghanaian who was not happy with the results, could go to hell and burn the Gulf of Guinea. Huh, was he under the influence of alcohol or what, one may dare ask? Or was it because he wanted to please his former pal, campus colleague and bedfellow, the late Prof. John Mills as a result of old-boyism? If so, then he has rather stabbed himself in the back. But wait a minute! This infantile action of yours, whether deliberate, inadvertent, coercion or forced to press the shameful trigger has ultimately shot your status from the unmatched pedigree to the bare ground to become a snowball. You decided to spoil the tasty meal of Ghanaians’ 2012 Xmas festivities with venomous bile. As a result, your name would forever continue to remain a stigma and taboo in many households. The collective collision course that you and JM crafted before, during and after the elections, have indeed brought your reputation from grace to grass and, virtually, nothing could be done by you now to conjure any magic wand to change your lost and faded pedigree.
THE TALE
A story is told of a boy who grew up to become a very notorious person in his youthful age. This naughty boy was more often than not, recognized as a villain of the peace rather than anything else in his locality. Virtually, there was nothing his parents could do to caution him. There were such types of boys/girls in the student days at various schools and readers could bear with me the type of persons in mind. Hope your guess would be as good as mine – without any exaggeration and/or mincing of words, those who are not full-blooded …... hope you get what I mean. Nothing could shape this boy to size. Almost every other day, this boy was involved in this, involved in that; involved in this, involved in that, until one day, his cup overflowed and was caught red-handed and fell foul with the police. No amount of plea or representation by the parents could suffice and satisfy the police; mind you, it was not the Ghana police you know that you could bulldoze your way through, otherwise, they would have had a leeway. The biological parents became so desperate and disillusioned in life that if they had the chance or choice, would have disowned him but fate would not have it. It was time for this poor boy to be arraigned before court for determination of his pending case that he had already been involved in. The date was set for hearing and the boy was sent to the court in handcuffs. After a couple of cases heard and the third adjourned, it was the turn of this villain of the peace. The judge read a few lines from the prosecution docket and asked the prosecutor to go ahead with his submission. Then rose up this bulky faced prosecutor; after some heavy sigh of relief, he read through and with some huge voluminous voice, started with the narration of the events that warranted the boy’s trial in the dock.
GENESIS
The whole court room was as quite as a cemetery. After some minutes of reading to give credence to the genesis of the case, then came the turn of the judge to ponder over the charge(s) before pronouncing sentence. As if by design or accident, before one could say, Jack, this youngman begged for permission to have word with the mother who was right there at the court and seated some few meters away from the dock. Permission was granted him and when the unassuming, innocent looking mother drew near the son, he asked the mum to come closer so that nobody would hear what he was going to tell her. Mummy unhesitatingly agreed to the son’s request. He again beckoned on her to place her ear to the mouth so that nobody would hear even his whisper. The request was obliged and before the boy would talk to the mother’s ear, intentionally bit off the ear to the chagrin of the judge, the officials and the spectators that had gathered for that day’s hearing. Soon after, the bewildered judge sitting in court wanted to know why the body had again misbehaved in such an unruly manner. His answer was however simple. He went on to say, ‘My Lord, I intentionally bit off my mum’s ear for the whole court to know that my parents and for that matter, my mother, who was very many times with me in the home, was the cause; she could have done me a favour to discipline me even to the point of using cane on me or flurry of insults, but not. The present predicament that I find myself in was by nobody’s fault but my mother’s. I politely requested your permission to have the last minute tete-a-tete with her to teach her a lesson that she was the cause of all my woes before you passed judgment. My Lord, my undeserved action was deliberate and I am however prepared for any jail term that you may deem fit to pronounce. The judge really became dumb-founded and decided to grant him pardon by tampering justice with mercy, despite the mother’s bitten ear.
HUMBLE PIE – LEV. 20:11-16
The proponents or assigns of the human rights protection for gays and lesbians in Ghana should beware and take a cue from the quotation above. It explains vividly in unambiguous and no uncertain terms the penalty for such victims and all culprits. It is therefore a shame for some Ghanaians to stand up boldly to tell the world that they do not take delight to be members of this cult or participants themselves but would rather defend such unscrupulous persons wherever they might find themselves. Such personalities, who arrogate impunity upon them -selves to prepare to defend gays and lesbians at all times; whether on the high seas, in the air, or on the land, was something very disgusting indeed. The scripture quoted above says inter alia, ‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 12.‘If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. 13 ‘If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 14 ‘If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wicked -ness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. 15 If a man mates with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the beast. 16 ‘If a woman approaches any beast and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them”. It is my wish that the parliament should take cognizance of above and ensure some reformation was made to the 1992 constitution of Ghana to give meaning to the sacred document otherwise, ‘any idiot’ would one day take the Constitution to ransom. All those known to be dancing under this canopy of shame would obviously be called to stand trial before the heavenly throne of judgment. It is my further plea that the bespecta -cled legal luminary in charge of the Women, Children and Gender Affairs would return whatever monetary gains she may have gotten from the defence of her wealthy and rich clients to the Osu Children’s Home for their upkeep.
THE ALTAR CALL
Now is the hour. The hour has struck. This is the time for Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan to stand up from amongst the crowd to be counted and confess his sins or sinful act committed against Mother Ghana before, during and after the just ended elections. His actions/inactions have marred the beauty and peaceful co-existence of all Ghanaians and foreigners living in this country.
Hypothetically, if I were the embattled Afari Djan, I would not feel ashamed but to muster courage and own up; throw in the towel and quickly send a written plea of remorsefulness to the hierarchy of the Supreme Court of Ghana immediately to show some sign of repentance for forgiveness with the indication that, after sober reflection and with a sullen heart as the man at the centre of the raging controversy, say, “My distinguished Ladyships/Lordships, I have sinned against God. I have sinned against humanity i.e. all Ghanaians; I have been misled. I have been deceived. I have acted childishly. My hired agents/assigns have let me down woefully. My negligence has caused major havoc without cross-checking the correct facts and figures the subordinate officers from the 10 regions submitted to me. Without the slightest thought of any evil intention and machination, the hurriedly-prepared results were declared. I mistakenly pressed the trigger. I forgot that the ultimate consequences could have plunged the whole country into war but the gun never fired. Never did I realize anywhere that the election results that I childishly pronounced in haste would be contested in the courts on the premise of falsification of figures and fraud, hence the bluff that any dissatisfied party could go to court. In the mighty name of the Almighty, please pardon me and tamper justice with mercy to set an example with this humble confession to be a judicial landmark throughout the world”. The figures that the Plaintiffs/Contestants have in their possession, copies of which have been submitted to you to be tendered as exhibits in the court, are truly the genuinely authenticated ones. After this disclosure, and from a repentant heart, do hereby entreat you to pronounce the verdict in favour of the Plaintiffs and their party as real winners of the elections. If he is able to do that openly and publicly for the work of the SC to be made lighter for them, all the angelic hosts in heaven will be glad that he did that to enable his family win favour from God like Noah of old.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
True or false? It is alleged that the wives of soldiers with allegiance to the NDC at Burma Camp were offered some Gh¢40,000.00 for 2012 Xmas festivities whilst Ghanaian doctors still moan for the migration and actualization of their salaries onto the SSSS?
Supposedly, if I were Counsel Philip Addison, I would put to Dr. Afari Djan as thus: Dr. Afari Djan, if everything in the elections, to the best of your ability were all errors and by your own admission last Thursday, June 6, 2013, time: 15.58 hours, how come that you had the guts to go ahead to declare Candidate John Dramani Mahama as the winner? Characteristic of Dr. Afari Djan; just as he was about to stray and prolong his answers to the delight of his Counsel, Mr. Addison cautioned him this way; Dr. Afari Djan, Dr. Afari Djan, I say, did you use the figure, 14,158,680 to declare the elections or what? Again, just as he was about to stray to the Achimota Forest, he was cautioned as thus: Dr. Afari Djan, please, answer the question. Did you or did you not? Bla, bla, bla, and Philip emphatically ensured that the Witness did the right thing. I want you to give the straight answer to the Court. To the author, it was a surprise; was the election administrator with doctorate experience miles away from the courtroom and reminiscing of the repercussions and eventual consequences from his accomplices and paymasters if any? Was he dozing off or what was the state of the mind then? Certainly, he was not under the influence of his tobacco delicacy, I suppose. Would he now be prepared after self-awakening and wizening up to tell the august Court that in their own wisdom, after sober reflection, change of heart and self confession, should reverse the unpopular verdict that out of anger and rage and pregnant with arrogance, had the guts to announce on December 9, 2012 to a wrongful winner instead of the rightful winner to forestall peace because he has openly admitted that there were sufficient proof of over-voting, double registration as well as numerous irregularities? If he was able to do that; trust me, he would be celebrated as one of the world’s repentant prodigal heroes and evergreen septuagenarians. I rest my case for I am done.
Postscript: Ghana once upon a time was the Star and Beacon of Hope of Africa; but has now relinquished both accolades including the self-acclaimed Gateway to Africa because of the dum so, dum so, dum so (on, off, on, off electricity supplies) syndrome to be reduced to the doldrums. What has actually gone amiss in our society? Certainly, it is nothing but greediness, corruption, daylight thievery of the national kitty, total break of discipline or command structure, indiscipline at the highest order, disrespect for authority and above all, filth that has engulfed the whole Nation without any clue. Ghanaians should not be surprised to see that one day not long from now, experts would be invited to fly down from the US to teach Ghanaians how to eat our own local delicacies such as fufu, banku, akple and tuo zaafi here. Very sad, isn’t it? Mark my word.
By:kofiappiah2002@yahoo.com
Tel: 0277 122 909
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