President John Dramani Mahama was conspicuously missing
at what can be described as a
hurriedly arranged victory rally of the ruling National Democratic
Congress (NDC) at the Trade Fair Site in La, Accra, on
Saturday.
The NDC was forced to issue a directive to party executives
nationwide, through its General Secretary Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah,
to celebrate the controversial declaration of Mr. Mahama as president-elect by Electoral
Commission Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, after allegations that
the December 7 general election was fixed in the NDC’s favour.
At the time the rally was going on, the president was said to
be making preparations to fly to South Africa to chill there as
part of a private visit.
Indeed, a communication from the presidency signed by John
Abdulai Jinapor, the president’s spokesperson, later confirmed
DAILY GUIDE’s suspicion.
According to John Jinapor’s statement, the President was
expected back in Accra on Sunday, December 30, 2012.
The statement said Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe
Amissah-Arthur, in the absence of Mr. Mahama, shall, in accordance with
Article 60(8) of the constitution,
act as President during the period that the President will be
away.
Since the results were announced, the opposition NPP has
resorted to seeking legal redress, instead of using violence, to
achieve its objective after it claimed Dr. Afari-Gyan unjustifiably
gave the elections to the NDC.
The Nana Akufo-Addo-led NPP has been using dialogue to
explain its side of the story to
religious bodies and other civil society organizations
It is clear everybody wants peace in Ghana but what happened
at the NDC victory rally leaves much to be desired.
At a time everybody in the country is crying for peace, NDC
gurus used the rally to rain insults on the opposition for not
accepting the election results, even though the NDC never accepted
the 2004 election results which gave then President John Agyekum
Kufuor a second term in office.
Speaker upon speaker took turns to taunt and denigrate the
NPP, particularly the personality of the party’s candidate, Nana
Akufo-Addo.
Party chairman Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Asiedu-Nketiah aka General
Mosquito, National Organiser Yaw Boateng Gyan, Sam P. Yalley among others were at the
event.
Yaw Boateng Gyan, who prior to the election had been exposed
in a secret recording for plotting with NDC foot-soldiers to
infiltrate the security agencies and cause mayhem, said he did not
understand why Nana Akufo-Addo should talk about his (Gyan)
nefarious activities.
He warned the NPP flag-bearer to stop associating his
(Gyan’s) name with violence or else he (Akufo Addo) would urinate
in public just as he was rumoured to have done near a mosque in
Gonjaland last year.
He claimed that the NPP’s defeat, which was a subject of
contention, was signaled by Nana Akufo-Addo’s fall on stage during
a rally in Kumasi in the run-up to the elections.
He also said that the electorate did not vote the NPP into
power because God did not create their flag-bearer to be
president.
Although the late President Mills would have sought a second
term in office at the same age as Nana Akufo-Addo, had the law
professor not died, General Mosquito said that the NPP candidate
could not be president because he was too old
He said Nana Akufo-Addo had no business contesting the
election because he was the oldest among the
candidates.
Asiedu-Nketiah claimed the “class mates” of the NPP candidate
had now graduated to the Council of State and urged Nana Akufo-Addo
to do same.
He taunted the NPP, saying the NDC, under President John
Mahama, was magnanimous and had reserved a seat for Nana Akufo-Addo
as a Council of State member but he should first disown his
“all-die-be-die” comment and the free SHS mentality.
Sam Pee Yalley also claimed that the NPP’s decision not to
accept the December 7 verdict showed that the opposition party was
violent.
He said once all the parties signed the peace accord in
Kumasi before the elections, the NPP should have accepted the
outcome of the polls.
