By Cletus Abaare
“You
ought never to turn your back on a threatened danger and try to run away from
it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and
without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half”.
The above commonsensical statement is
not in anyway to entice unprepared minds into reading this article but it is
one of the most valuable assets, my poor father (call him a watchman like an
irresponsible MP did some months back) left for me before he passed onto the
silent world of no return.
It has been my guiding angel in all my
endeavours in life. It has given me an immeasurable courage to face what I am
facing today as a journalist who seeks justice rather than pride. I mean not
praise singing so loud somebody’s name to blot my stomach with some coins.
Seen? Call it a bluff.
For sometime now I have decided to rest
my pen off commenting on some issues mistakenly or rightly happening in the
country and had tied my poor eyes with a thick black cloth to help keep my
thinking veins away from worries from any irresponsible activity or speech from
any person.
But lo and behold, the continual naked flame
set ablaze after the general elections has gutted down my concealant; leaving
my eyes standing above their sockets and my veins madly awaken to a voice of a
call. A call that has given me a mixed feeling. A feeling of sadness and a
feeling of happiness.
Sad because sometimes, one's education,
age, social standing, profession, job placement, etc; you are tempted to put
them in the class of the 'success stories of our race' of our time. However,
happiness because the attitude of such people we turn to esteem so highly in
the society and can hold accountable in
trusted public offices seem to suggest that 'caution' must herald any such
assessment irrespective of their pretended
manners.
Happiness for this important and timely
revelation of the sort of people who were seeking and dying to lead this
country. I am talking about the struggle to the presidency. The John Mahama’s
and the Akufo-Addo’s open battle which was witnessed by all Ghanaians and the
international community.
The attempts to have innocent blood wash
down our streets and badly shaped roads. The voluntarily calling and endorsing of
war in the country called Ghana; my Ghana, your Ghana and our Ghana. If you are
the post-independence born children call Her, the Osagyefo Nkrumah’s Ghana. This
needless and shameful calling for war by
the known three individuals and some NPP’s charlatans is not welcome by thinking
cells. I don’t care about what you think or want. Call me whatever, I will
still stand grounds.
And sadly but not weirdly, Akufo-Addo is
the leader of that war drumming group. The loss presidential Candidate of the NPP
in the 2012 general elections. You may have your own view of him- but to me- he
is a complete disappointment, a bore and a pitiful threat to our democracy and
more importantly the people of Ghana.
Why
does he and his bloodthirsty cohorts have to be so blazingly in a hurry to demonstrate
that he is up to the task of chasing innocent people out of the country to our
neighboring war-tore countries as refugees? Maybe saying “keep off, I am Mr. Justice,
see no evil of my actions but praise sing my name as the lover of justice”. Who
is he trying to scare off? What a shame?
Ghana has an elected president for the
next four years if my knowledge in our 1992 constitution, the supreme law of
our land is right. Per the lawyer he claims to be, I have no doubts that he
knows too well that the Supreme Court is not a Kingmaker and therefore cannot
in anyway impose him (Akufo-Addo) on me, the proud son of a watchman or anybody
as Ghana's President.
My little knowledge about the law is
that the Supreme Court will at its best interpret the Constitution and the CIs
to find out whether the Electoral Commission performed its statutory functions
as spelled out under the Constitution. And if it is satisfied that the EC did
so, no amount of prayers or evil tactics will prevent the court from ruling that
the 2012 elections were clean as commended by the numerous observers across the
world. This is a common fact to Ghanaians and Mr. ‘Justice’ Akufo-Addo must
ready to endorse or go and burn the sea.
Akufo-Addo and his lawyers are calling
on the supreme court of our land to annul some votes they believe were
illegally cast by Ghanaians in certain areas in the country and declare him, the
NPP’s retired twice defeated presidential candidate as duly elected by
Ghanaians as president. They alleged that those illegal votes per their ‘water-tight
evidence’ only benefited the NDC and the declared president, John Mahama.
How they got to know that those votes
they called them ‘votes without verification machines’ were cast in favour of
the NDC is yet a mystery to be unraveled. I do not know where world’s super
seer is but I doubt if he can see to extend of how Akufo-Addo and cohorts can
do.
Putting it plainly for the understanding
of the ordinary voter, Mr. ‘Justice’ Akufo-Addo is asking the Supreme Court to
invalidate 4 million of the 11 million votes
cast at the elections and declare him as the legal winner of the Presidential
elections.
‘Justice’
Akufo-Addo’s illogical but legal thinking as they refer to it, is that the
Supreme Court will therefore assume the status of the Electoral Commission sanction
by the 1992 Constitution to conduct, oversee and declare all public elections
in the country and disenfranchise legal voters votes cast under the scorching
sun and declare him winner of the 2012 presidential elections.
According to them this case before the supreme
is devoid of logical thinking but rather full of legalities and achieving this
will make our democracy great and strong. What a fantasy, a mockery of democracy,
shambolic thinking.
According to article 46
of the Constitution “Except as provided in the constitution or in any other law
that is inconsistent with the constitution, in the performance of its
functions, Electoral Commission, shall not subject to the direction or control
of any person or authority”, so
on what legal basis
will the Supreme Court as an authority in this sense control the EC and
pronounce the NPP’s presidential candidate as a winner of the elections?
On what basis that the
request by the NPP to annul legal votes cast without a verification machine
strengthen the country’s democratic credentials?
In the estimation of all those who
monitored the elections have tagged this elections as one of the best elections
ever held in the African Continent and have described it as free, fair,
transparent and credible elections. So how can the Supreme Court blame the EC for
‘Justice’ AKufo-Addo's defeat because it did what the Constitution asked it to
do?
Strange enough, after bragging to have “water-tight
evidence" that could shock Ghanaians to their bones, the NPP had the
shambolic gut to demand for documents from the EC to support their petition.
Thankfully the court in its wisdom denied them.
If by my understanding,
the NPP led by ‘Justice’ Akufo-Addo would want anything at all should be a strong
demand for electoral reforms as advanced by some political watchers and not the
magical overturning of the elections results.
This can be a fair call
to improve our electoral process because no general elections held anywhere in
the world are without problems, being conducted by human beings—and we know
that perfection is not a human quality’. And this is not the duty of the Supreme
Court.
The Supreme Court is
there to interpret the Constitutional provisions against the background of the
NPP’s allegations to tell us whether the EC fell out of step or not. And
therefore will examine all the evidence to be made available and determine the
case within that ambit to see which Constitutional provisions were flouted or
adhered to.
So Justice Akufo-Addo why this huhudious
posture? Why are you departing from the battle is the Lord’s and now calling
for mayhem on the citizens of Ghana?
I think it is time you throw in the
towel in matters of these. It is a fruitless journey that is only aim at
disturbing the peace of the country. You were not born to president. Period.
You repented from ALL DIE BE DIE AND AT ALL COST TO THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S.
why can’t you agree to verdict of the LORD’S?
Our
LORD Jesus Christ- threw a challenge to a crowd that was filled with the same
spirit that is moving you to throw your weight about- "Let him/her that
has no sin; cast the first stone". Maybe the difference between that crowd
and you- is that, they understood Jesus very well, honestly fell convicted,
threw away their stones; and before Jesus could lift up his head- quickly
retreated and vanished from the scene.
It is irresponsible for people like you
to start behaving violently to the detriment of the innocent. May the God of
heaven or Allah- have mercy upon you. The wise and enlightened of our race know
and do better than this. Yours is the basest of human drives- hypocrisy;
gangsterism interference in the work of the constitution; we are against it. Your
experience and education should lift you above this shallow ground- not so?
People of your status, are supposed to
be, paragons of virtues, wherever they find themselves. They are supposed to
help the ‘hot-heads’ found in all human institutions to calm down.
"A good name is better than
riches" (so says the Good Book)! Do not allow yourself to be reduced to a
mere tool in the hands of politics for the destruction of the poor innocent
citizens. I think your age, education; training and maybe religion (if you have
one) should place you above violence and disgrace.
I
shall return
