Election 2020: Act within the law – Col Festus Aboayge to NDC

The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) must act within the laws of the land with regards to their actions against the results of the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, a security analyst, Colonel Festus Aboagye (Retired), has said.

He stated on the Key Points programme on TV3 Saturday, December 19 that even though street protests are permitted under the laws of Ghana, the surest way to get their disagreements over the results settled is through the use of the court.

Since the presidential candidate of the NDC John Dramani Mahama’s official rejection of the election results, which declared incumbent Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner, his supporters have held scattered demonstrations across the country.

On Thursday after a group of supporters demonstrated near the headquarters of the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC), 26 of them were arrested by the police.

But Col Festus Aboayge (RTD) told host of the Key Points Abena Tabi that “In the interim, I will call on the NDC to act within the law so that we don’t inflame passions the more. Because I know that if the risk of the demonstrations or protest escalate nationwide and indeed if the state responds as is being suggested, the Armed Forces may come in not to control the crowd. They may come in with another agenda which may set us back for several decades.”

For his part, a Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, also noted that the street protests by the NDC will not achieve anything,

He explained that the constitution of the Republic of Ghana spells out what an aggr9ved person in an election should do in the event of the person disagrees with the results of an election as declared by the Electoral Commission.

The outgoing Member of Parliament for Tempane told host Abena Tabi on the same show that “The argument of the NDC is that the winner should have been His Excellency former president John Mahama. That was not granted by the EC. The EC went ahead to declare what were the set of facts to them after collation of all the 275 constituencies across the country.

“At that stage, when you are aggrieved by the conduct of the Electoral Commission and you want the results overturned, the streets will not assist you to overturn the results. Let us get that fundamental right.

“If they think that genuinely they have a case that is why everybody is saying if you want the election results as has been gazette to change in your favour, the only forum where you can state your grievances and get the issues dealt with will be the Supreme Court properly constituted.”

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said the means by which the party will go to court to challenge the results of the presidential and parliament elections are being blocked.

He told TV3’s Komla Kluste in an interview that the party is being denied access to some pink sheets, the primary documents upon which the election results were declared, to enable them to put their case together for possible court action.

“We have to secure the means of going to court. Even the means of going to court and having the chance of winning is still being blocked by the tyrant.

“So why do you want to go to court when the person who knows that when you go to court you will need A, B, C and so we are blocking your means of getting there so that you cannot go to court. And then sycophants will be sitting outside and shouting go to court.

“If we have to go to court about Techiman, we can only go to court to challenge the results of Techiman as declared. We are being denied even the opportunity of sighting what results were declared when the law gives us an entitlement to a copy,” he said.

The US Ambassador Stephanie S. Sullivan met with former President John Dramani Mahama barely a week after he rejected results

The US Ambassador also met Mr. Mahama’s running mate in the elections, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, at the meeting on Thursday, December 17.

They “discussed the recent elections”.

The US envoy is said to have urged not only the 2020 Presidential Candidate and Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) but also all political parties “to pursue legal channels for any electoral disputes and to preserve the peace in Ghana”.