Once again another successful election period has ended and all credit must be given to the Electoral Commission (EC) and Ghanaians. We deserve commendations for holding the most serene elections in Ghana’s history.
One thing though that is taking the shine from this year’s polls is the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) allegations of systematic fraud perpetrated on Ghanaians by the government and led by the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Afari Gyan.
Despite civil associations such as CODEO, ECOWAS Observer missions, CHRAJ among others describing the just ended elections as peaceful, transparent and fair, the NPP now supported by parties such as PPP and NDP have stuck to their claims of the elections being rigged in favor of the President-elect John Dramani Mahama.
Whilst others have sought to justify the NPP’s challenge of the election result in court describing it as having the potential to add something to our young but fledging democracy, I want to take a look at possible reasons why the leadership of the party may want to hold their current view.
Firstly is the attempt to maintain Nana Akufo-Addo as the flag bearer of the party for the 2016 General elections thus the ‘psy-ops’ being operated on NPP supporters that Akufo-Addo did not lose the elections but was robbed of it.
Many political pundits have argued that Akufo-Addo may just have to retire his Presidential ambitions and allow others to take over the flagbearership of the party after failing twice in his attempt to become President. But with this convenient excuse of him being robbed, delegates of his party may have to give him one last shot since there exist a precedent in Ghana’s history where the late President Mills was tried thrice before he became President.
Secondly is the National and Regional executives’ unwillingness to accept the fact that they have let down their supporters once again thereby exposing their incompetence. This posture is very human especially for these executives who have assured their party faithful that by hook or crook Nana Addo will win the elections.
Another reason though sounds weird is that, the NPP haven checked their finances after loosing elections two times consecutively, maybe playing on the mind of the President-elect in order to get some financial compensation for the expenses made during the campaigning. This is very possible for a corrupt President who fearing his position being challenged in court may dole out some money to the NPP to silence them.
Again, it just might be that some judges of the Supreme Court have promised to help the NPP’s course should an issue like the one currently being raised is brought before them. This particular reason is very unlikely but in a country where the NPP is seen to be controlling the judiciary, it cannot be left out. If this happens to be true, I personally suspect the delay in sending the matter to court maybe a ploy which involves some members of the top echelons of the judiciary carefully crafting NPP’s case.
An assurance by some foreign powers to the NPP may lead them to take their current stance on the elections. This reason is one that is very plausible considering happenings around the world where the ‘powers’ that be like to install puppet regimes that they (the powers) will like to control.
Forget about all the congratulatory messages being sent by these foreign Presidents, they are just being diplomatic. One thing that lends to this credence is why the NPP insists on holding demonstrations instead of heading straight to court knowing very well these protests will not change a vote.
Interestingly, it started with the NPP alone crying foul, now the PPP, the NDP and just yesterday, the PNC have caught up with the song of rigging. Before we realize, the international community will begin to change their perception about the elections and call for a re-election.
Lastly is the scenario where after the elections were announced by the Chairman of the EC, some Deputies at the EC have assured the NPP of being able to manipulate the results should they complain of irregularities. The manipulations could lead the court to think something fishy went on during the counting and tabulation and thus call for a re-run of the elections.
I will like to state at this point that, the writer of this article has no proof or whatsoever of any of the possible reasons why the NPP will be crying foul. This piece is an imaginative work which could be true considering the NPP alleged that fax machines were hacked into.
