Why no amount of mud thrown will stick “…………………..Next Year, 2012, you will once again lead this nation into a Presidential and Parliamentary General Election which are rumoured to be your final effort. Since you became Chairman of the Commission, after the highly challenged elections of 1992, you have successfully led the Commission in improving and deepening the emerging democratic culture of our nation.,……………………..” JAKE OBETSEBI-LAMPTEY, NPP CHAIRMAN Letter to EC Chairman, 25 January 2011 “This cannot be said to amount to a disaster, especially, when there is an opportunity to redress this matter today,” he said. ……………………“We are happy that the EC, in accordance with the law, will allow voters who missed out Friday, as a result of faulty equipment, to exercise their franchise today, Saturday, December 8. We are, therefore, calling on all our supporters to come out once again in their numbers and vote.” BOAKYE-AGYARKO, NPP CAMPAIGN MANAGER, Statement on 8 December 2012 Where are the merits and justification for the incessant calls by the leadership of NPP and its sycophantic media and pressure groups for Dr Afari-Gyan to resign as Chairman of the Electoral Commission? None whatsoever, especially in the light of the foregoing ringing endorsement of both Dr. Afari-Gyan and the Electoral Commission by the two most important people in charge of the party’s 2012 Election campaign. The NPP must realise that no amount of mud it slings at Dr. Afari-Gyan as the architect for the defeat will stick. Indeed, uncharacteristic for mud, it will rebound with THE HEAVIEST THUD BACK INTO THEIR OWN FACE, LEADING TO A BLINDNESS WHICH WILL LEAD TO A THRID SUCCESSIVE ELECTORAL DEFEAT IN 2016. As you can see from Boakye-Agyarko’s statement, the NPP was very satisfied with how the biometric verification had worked during the elections. far from complaining, they heaped praise on the EC for making provision for voting on a 2nd day. So how did the NPP decide to go to court to make VOTING WITHOUT BIOMETIRC VERIFICATION as one of the three central pillars of its |Petition? Another veritable case of chucking more mud at the referee after it had heaped effusive praise on his handling of the game? I have known Afari-Gyan since he became the Chairman of the EC. From the time I got to know him, his core mantra has always been ELECTIONS ARE WON AT THE POLLING STATIONS; I ONLY COLLATE RESULTS AND I AM THE LAST TO SEE THEM Anyone who has ever been involved with elections will know how true and profound this statement is. From Polling station to Collation Centre, From Collation Centre to the Regional EC Office, From the Regional Office to the EC Strong Room, the NPP and all other competing parties are allowed by law to have their agents witness and attest the outcome of the elections. Is it not astonishing that in ALL OF THE 26002 Polling stations, 278 Constituency Collating Centres; 10 Regional EC Offices and the Strong Room at the EC HQ, the NPP had agents and NOT A SINGLE PPROTEST was made by any NPP agents. Astonishingly, the NPP representatives at the Strong Room, led by the previous National Chairman, endorsed 150 of the 278 Results declared at the Constituencies before puttong down their pens when they realised the tide was turning. ALL OF THE ABOVE PROCESSES TOOK PLACE AND WERE ENDORSED BY NPP AGENTS BEFORE AFARE-GYAN SIGNED OFF ON TO THE RESULT AND DECLARED THE RESULTS. S FAR, NO ONE HAS COME TO SUGGEST THAT THE RESULTS DECLAED AND PUBLISHED VARIES IN ANY SINGLE DIGIT FROM THOSE DECLARED AT THE COLLATION CENTRES ABD PASSED ON TO THE STRONG ROOMS. I engaged 300 volunteers to monitor the 2012 elections under the aegis of the GHANA INSTITUTUE OF PUBLIC POLIC OPTIONS( GIPPO). These were highly skilled professionals who were more thn happy to be involved in the elections, having been very frustrated in not being given the opportunity to do so through the NPP Platform. Their reports make for very sorry reading of the abominable performance of the NPP operation in the 2012 elections. "AT OFFINSO NORTH, PHONES THAT WERE SUPPOSE TO BE GIVEN TO AGENTS TO AID THEIR WORK WERE SITTING IN THE OFFICE OF THE CONSTITUENCY CHAIRMAN AS AT THE TIME COUNTING WAS GOING ON WHICH MEANS THE PHONES WERE NOT USED FOR THEIR INTENDED PURPOSE. IN MANY POLLING STATIONS, OUR AGENTS GOT FOOD FROM NDC OFFICIALS BECAUSE OUR OFFICIALS WERE NOT LOOKING AFTER THEM" Constituency of the Director of Security, NPP, 2012 Elections “ In 38 out of the 39 Constituencies in Ashanti, the Parliamentary Candidate left the Collating Centre after results had been declared without waiting for the Preisdential results to be declared” GIPPO REGIONAL COORDINATING MONITOR, ASHANTI This is what I mean by the NPP’s failure to manifesting the will of the people on Election Day. In the words of my brother Nana Addo, we shot ourselves in our own collective foot, and we will do well to heal our own wounds instead of trying to shoo the flies on Afari-Gyan’s non-existent wound. On the matter of the EC’s call for memoranda on reforms, this is as it should be. In case anyone in the NPP has forgotten, the Constitution of Ghana gives the full authority to organize and run Elections in Ghana to the Electoral Commission. In its work, it is not answerable to anyone, and not even Parliament can touch any Constitutional Instrument the EC lays before it. The only thing Parliament can do is to send back for correction, any CII which is inconsistent with the laws of Ghana Should we not be happy the Dr. Afari-Gyan created IPAC to give us a toe hold into the planning and organization of elections when he was not required to by law? Surely we should be happy and encouraged to see the EC invitation as a most welcome initiative and good example of ALLINCLUSIVENESS, instead of pillorying the EC and pretending that we have a legal say in how things are done. WE DO NOT AND THE SOOER WE LETOUR SUPPORTRS KNOW THEREALITY THE BETTER. AFTER ALL, WHEN IT HAS SUITED US, THE NPP HAS CLAIMED THE CREDIT FORM ALL OF THE GOOD INNOVATIONS TO OUR ELECTORAL SYSTEM THROUGH THE IPAC MECHANISM (see Jake above) As for AFAG and all the smart –alecs shouting at the top of the roof and with your moths opened wide, tell us what you did to assist with the manning of polling stations and relayed operations on Dec 07 /8?. So where is the basis for your heaping opprobrium on Afari-Gyan and seeking to have him lose his well-earned pension when you should e digging deep into your navels and smelling the stink from letting down the millions of people who voted for the NPP by failing to secure the victory? Defeat hurts. The pain is doubled when you attempt to get onto the throne through a small side door and it gets slammed into your face. The response is not to create diversion by putting the blame on Afari-Gyan. What the NPP needs to do and start doing right away is to peel away the mask of ‘WE WAS ROBBED”, and start washing its soiled election machinery to make its engine shining and truly ready for Journey 2016. I am done. Dr, Charles Wereko-Brobby (aka TARZAN) Accra 12 September 2013
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 07:43:17 +0000
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