The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has justified its decision to boycott the swearing in ceremony of President-elect, John Dramani Mahama.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE yesterday, Communications Director of the party, Nana Akomea said “it is consistent with our stand that we don’t accept the results of the election.
“John Mahama is going to be sworn in based on those results. If we don’t accept those results, we don’t want to be part of anything based on those results. We will not stop it but we will also not be part of it for now until the court rules”, he stated.
He also dispelled the notion that the party was against former President Kufuor’s decision to attend the inaugural ceremony since according to him, “he is not going because he is an official of the party; he is not going on the ticket of the party. His invitation has nothing to do with the party.”
Apart from that, he noted, “President Kufuor is being invited in the capacity of ex-President and so he feels that on that basis of him being ex-President he would like to go; the party is not against it.”
On the issue of whether or not the party’s Members of Parliament (MPs) would take part in proceedings including the passage of bills from the executive arm of government, this was what Nana Akomea said: “The Parliamentarians will take a decision. The normal work of Parliament will go on, but I suspect issues that deal directly with the President, they will deal with it on a case by case basis”.
He was optimistic about the outcome of the case the party has filed at the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate the declaration of John Dramani Mahama as winner of the 2012 Presidential elections on claims of rigging.
“If the court rules that the results are not valid, John Mahama has to step down, Amissah Arthur has to step down, the Speaker of Parliament takes over. So the swearing in and the inauguration doesn’t affect the court case and nobody should be worried about that,” he emphasized.
Akomea thus urged disgruntled supporters of the largest opposition party in the country to remain calm since in his own words “the inauguration and the swearing in does not affect the court case”.
“It doesn’t make John Mahama legitimacy a ‘fait accompli’” – an accomplished fact; an action which is completed before those affected by it are in a position to query or reverse it”.
