News Flash:Rawlings Hit List Is A Fake

I have received an e-mail from Mr. Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah, it leaves me in no doubt that the supposed hit list of Rawlings is a fake.

Click here for an analysis of the Rawlings Hit List e-mail

Nana Akyea Mensah has left a new comment on the post "NPP,NDC disappointed Ghanaians says Nduom":

Hello,

I am a CPP member and I have been so since my teen age into what is now a middle age. Everything thing that the CPP is saying here is true. The question though is, has the CPP said everything it has to say on the impending vote?

How is the CPP reading and responding to the most important political imperative at stake; the consolidation of the NPP dynasty in power to facilitate their steep descent into officially corrupt constitutional despots through long-term manipulation and stragulation of the Judiciary, the use of rubber-stamp NPP parliamentarians and an Executive whose lists of opinions, even on local matters, are supplied by London and Washington?

This vote is crucial to national liberation from the disgusting neo-colonialism of the NPP of the same proportion and significance as the CPP's battle for Independence in 1957!

It is clear we can not make it on our own. Our primary revolutionary duty is to prevent an NPP consolidation of power and strenthen the people's ability to change governments peacefully and democratically. This is the legacy history is asking from the CPP today!

The tergiversative proclivities of Ndoum is a clear indication that he is sticking hard to his deal with the NPP! The CPP must not go along with this! To sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards out of men! Let us go forth with a tactical choice between change and continuity and support the NDC against the NPP!

Some one must slap Ndoum gently on the cheeks to wake him up from his pleasant dreams of winning this election and ask him to make himself more relevant by reading through the dynamics of change blowing through Ghana and offer a responsible leadership, for the first time in his life! He must study carefully and quickly what has happened to his old accomplice, the right very much honorable, Mr. Freddy Blay Mugabe d'Ellembelle!

Post a comment.

Ghana goes biofuel, despite global food crisis

The Jatropha

Ghana is set to begin biofuel production very soon, despite mounting evidence of biofuels’ effects on the current global food crisis.

Only recently, the government of Ghana gave approval for a Norwegian biofuels firm ScanFuel to start production early 2009. The company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Thor Hesselberg said on Friday November 21, 2008 that the company is expected to produce 5000 barrels per day of crude oil equivalent by 2015.

According to reports the ScanFuel’s operation is located outside Kumasi in the Ashanti region. ScanFuel will initially cultivate Jatropha seeds, considered high oil-yielding on 10,000 hectares of land. More....

The United National Party(UNP) and The International Democratic Union(IDU) By Darmitha-Kotte

The United National Party(UNP) and The International Democratic Union(IDU)
By Darmitha-Kotte

"The Island" dated 4th October 2006 carried a tiny news report "Ranil to Sydney" in which it is stated thus: "Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe will leave for Sydney,Australia today to participate in special sessions of The International Democratic Union(IDU),Asia Pacific to be held from 5-7 October. Wickramasinghe is the President of IDU, Asia Pacific. After the Asia Pacific special sessions he will participate in the World Democratic Union special session."

Until Chandrika Kumaratunga became the Executive President of this country, most citizens believed that she was a good Buddhist. They voted her into power for the "Bandaranaike " name in the hope that she will serve to preserve the Sinhala Buddhist culture of this country.

Similarly, those who know the UNP and who often say " even if you slit our veins, it is "green colour" that runs through them, we will always vote for UNP" are in for a new surprise with his trip to Sydney to attend the International Democratic Union Asia Pacific meeting to be held between 5th -7th October 2006. Sri Lankans who swear by the fact that Ranil Wickramasinghe is a Buddhist and that UNP is a pro-Buddhist Party must know the truth of his current trip to Sydney to attend this conference.

The explanation given in the wikipedia(free encyclopedia) states that " International Democrat Union(IDU) is an international grouping of conservative and Christian democratic political parties. Formed in 1983, the IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organizational interest, in order that they might act cooperatively, establish contacts, and present a unified voice toward the promotion of center-right policies across the globe. The group was founded by several prominent heads of state and government, including Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, Vice President of the United States of America George H.W.Bush, Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac. At present, the group, headquartered in London,England and comprising 45 full or associate members is chaired by Prime Minister of Australia John Howard The IDU is associated with several regional organizations-The Democratic Union of Africa, Americas Democratic Union,Asia Pacific Democratic Union, Caribbean Democrat Union and European Democrat Union- as well as the International Young Democrat Union and International Women's Democrat Union. "

In section 1 "Full member parties" there is a list of names of countries who are full member parties(45 as mentioned above). Atleast 97% of these countries are originally Christian whether they be Church of England, Protestants, Catholic, Greek Orthodox or any other sects anyway. Under "Sri Lanka"- the United National Party is also listed as a full member! Ranil Wickramasinghe is President of IDU Asia Pacific region.

Now we Sri Lankans might be able " to open our eyes" and look back at the immediate past under the UNP rule and understand a lot of things that happened in this country. When Ranil Wickramasinghe became Prime Minister in 2001 he appointed a Cabinet of Ministers of whom over 60% were Christians by faith; he appointed John Amaratunga as Minister in charge of Interior Affairs under which Public Security and Police come as well as the Dept of Immigration & Emigration (so Visas were freely granted to inbound Evangelists to spread the faith) and he was also the Minister of Christian Affairs; during this period the Police were instructed to ensure that the whole month of December was celebrated for Christmas with lighting( in a predominantly Buddhist country); Buddhist ceremonies were given step-motherly treatment and in some cases directives were given not to issue permits for loudspeakers even for important Buddhist functions like Wesak and Poson; all illegal prayer centers around the country were given police protection in residential areas; Police were instructed to ignore complaints made by Buddhists when they complained about illegal religious activities which created social disharmony within villages; the Catholic Archbishop Rt.Rev. Oswild Gomis was appointed Chancellor of Colombo University; permission was granted for Christian Evangelical groups to conduct "Open Air Prayer Healing " sessions in close proximity to Buddhist temples so that Buddhist ceremonies would be drowned by the loudspeaker noises of the healing sessions etc etc- we can name many more such issues which were conducted to create religious disharmony! It was also during Ranil Wickramasinghe's time that LTTE terrorists were given their homeland almost with his signing of the LTTE/Norway drafted CFA. It was again during his time that we saw the likes of Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane who is an ardent Catholic jumping into the midst of all major Buddhist ceremonies and even conduct the "Chuda Manike" from Kelaniya to Jaffna as if we were short of Buddhists to do this!

In order to win the Sinhala Buddhist vote Ranil Wickramasinghe even published a book on Buddhism under his name( we are quite sure it was written by someone else), he promised to build the biggest Stupa in Sri Lanka (not knowing that we already had it!), his friend and school mate the Chief Incumbent of Kelaniya Vihare conducted many Buddhist functions with Ranil Wickramasinghe as the Chief Guest- all this to dupe and hood-wink the Sinhala Buddhist into believing that he is a true Buddhist!

We can now understand why Ranil Wickramasinghe is not relinquishing his post as leader of UNP because he is also the President of IDU Asia Pacific region and the western governments want him to hold on, for their own hidden agendas to destroy Sri Lanka's Buddhist heritage. We can now also understand why for every minute problem in Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickramasinghe would send his confidante Milinda Pinto Moragoda to America or to other western countriesto get advise from the heads of those countries, even at the risk of such advise being to the detriment of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.

The UNP has never been a political party that represented the ordinary masses- it was always a political party that represented the interests of the business community and the elitist society in the country. Why would the international community of IDU elect Ranil Wickramasinghe as President of Asia Pacific if they were not convinced of his religious and political allegiance to Christian interests? This is also an eye-opener for us to know that Norway is also a full member of the the IDU!

This is a good question to ask ourselves and keep in mind at ALL FUTURE ELECTIONS in Sri Lanka- that the UNP can never be trusted to safeguard the interests of the Sinhala Buddhists in this country anymore.

Is The Blowing Hot And Cold Air On Islamic Nerves?

Is The NPP Blowing Hot And Cold Air On Islamic Nerves?

The news that Nana Akufo Addo has joined Muslims in Bolgatanga to worship at the central mosque during a tour of Upper East Region this week-end, should normally have passed without comment. In fact, on the contrary there were many nice things he said there that deserve commendation, even if it is obvious that he was there to campaign for himself. "Though I am a Christian," he is reported to have said, "I see my presence in the Region today a good opportunity to join you in prayers, since Muslims and Christians all worship the same God." - Bolgatanga, Nov. 22, GNA -

The need for peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians to consolidate national unity and progress in the country is a sine qua non, and Ghana must be proud of the peace existing between Muslims and Christians. As usual, we owe most of this to the vision and foresight of the founding father of modern Ghana, the Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah when his government passed a law that effectively proscribed political parties that were based on religious or ethnic backgrounds, a popular sport dear to the hearts of the Busia-Danquah tradition at the time. Separation of the state from the Faith is a cardinal principle we must firmly uphold in order to maintain this peace. It is in the light of this that mischievous attempts to smuggle the agenda of the Christian right in foreign lands into our local politics need to be condemned in no uncertain terms. Imagine what would be happening here in Ghana if we still had the Muslim Action Party and perhaps a Christian Democratic Party with Women's Aglow Prayer Warriors as its women's wing? The rivalry between the NPP and the NDC would have looked, by comparison, like a love story from Bollywood!

It is beginning to appear that the NPP has not yet digested its secular status imposed upon it by law. The merger of the MAP with the UP, the foundation of the NPP, is only effective as far as Muslims in the party do not insist on a formal association with the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) for example. Reciprocally, this harmony can also only be maintained if the Christians in the NPP do not also make any attempt to impose on the party, formal association with the rival international Christian organisation to the OIC, known as the International Democrat Union.

Sadly, this is exactly what is going on! Nana Akufo-Addo, it seems, despite his declared commitment to national cohesion and unity which informed his choice of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, a Muslim as Vice President for Election 2008, is still endorsing the controversial membership of the NPP to an international organisation associated with Conservative Christian groups most of whose members and supporters are anti-Islamic!

The NPP, despite all the pretensions of separating the church from the state is formally aligned to a conservative christian organisation which has its aim of imposing their reality on the rest of us, moderate Christians and Muslims alike. Apart from the fact that the very idea of any group seeking to impose its will on the world is unacceptable, it is even more alarming, especially for Black Africa, when the support base of this group come from strange Christians like the Klu Klux Klan, Skulls and Bones of Yale (George Bush Jr. is a member!) etc. In the recent elections in the US, they all rallied behind Sarah Palin, (main reason for her selection by John McCain!) against Obama. For most of them, Obama was the most inappropriate candidate simply because of his race and his middle name, Hussein!

Not so long ago, Ghanaians were treated to a piece of news story with the tittle: Mac Manu elected VEEP of IDU, Accra, July 3, GNA. The storey went: "Mr. Peter Mac Manu, National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the International Democrat Union (IDU). He was elected at the Party Leaders' Meeting held in Paris and hosted by the ruling party in France, Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP)... The statement said Mr Mac Manu received a lot of admiration and commendation for successes in his stewardship of the NPP and Democrat Union of Africa (DUA)."

Again, just this week-end, whilst being treated to the news of worshipping in a mosque we read at the same time, a message to the DUA of the IDU from the same person: Accra, Nov. 22, GNA - Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate of New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Saturday urged African financial researchers and institutions to conduct research on the economies of their countries frequently in order to chart a unique course to prosperity and modernisation. ...These were contained in an address read on behalf of Nana Addo Akufo-Addo at the opening of Democratic Union of Africa (DUA) conference for its party leaders, being hosted by the NPP with delegates from Botswana, Cote D 'Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Seychelles, Uganda and Lesotho in attendance."

Normally, there would have been no contradiction if a presidential candidate worships on Friday in a mosque and goes to worship in a church on Sunday. It is completely a different matter when you simply enter a mosque for votes and sending a message to be read on your behalf to an organisation that seeks to promote Christian values at the expense of, and over and above those of moderate Christians and Muslims!

The IDU formed in 1983 is a working association of conservatives, Christian Democrats and like minded political parties of the centre and centre right in the world. It was largely in reaction to the ascendancy of the Organisation of Islamic Countries led by the Christian far right in the West. The History Dictionary on the Religious Right defines the group as: "A coalition of right-wing Protestant fundamentalist (see fundamentalism) leaders who have become increasingly active in politics since the Supreme Court's 1972 decision in Roe versus Wade. Among its leaders are Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. The Religious Right sponsors a network of Christian bookstores, radio stations, and television evangelists. Opposed to abortion, pornography, and what it views as the marginalizing of religion in American public life, the Religious Right has also championed prayer in the public schools. In the 1980s it gave strong support to President Ronald Reagan.

Whilst it is not my intention to incite religious tensions, I have no pretensions to ignore dangerous bigots either! The attitude of the far right Christians like Pat Robertson to Islam explains the formation of the IDU to out-rival the OIC. The notorious American far right Christian leader has been very busy describing Islam as a violent religion that wants to dominate and to destroy, hence the IDU.

"The rhetoric is exactly the same as traditional anti-Semitism. All you can do is change the word 'Jew' to 'Arab' or 'Muslim,' " said Hussein Ibish, spokesman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a Washington-based civil rights group. He said remarks like Robertson's and the Rev. Franklin Graham's comment to NBC last fall that Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion" are a "slightly warmed-over version of the hatred that led to the Holocaust."

This is a party that is not shy to belong to a world conservative, Christian democratic agenda, yet when Muslims in the party talk of a woman candidate they jaw-jaw about tokenism and having had eight insufferable years of the vice presidency already; and "the Separation of Church (or Religion) and the State", and "Ghanaians are in absolutely no hurry to have our country converted into a religious satellite of any other nation" and "unpardonably preposterous" and "totally hollow, disingenuous and practically unsound".

I hope that Muslim voters would also draw the line between where religious tolerance is unduly taken advantage of by "ideological fanatics and cynics parading in the guise of disinterested moralists" like Mr. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D whilst maintaining a particular status quo! An Akan dominated Christian one! What would be wrong with the Muslims in the Party insisting that the NPP must also be a part of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) since the Christians in the party have taken it to the Christian IDU?

Muslims also have legitimate aspirations of uniting their community to serve their common political, economic, and social interests. Despite the presence of secularist, nationalist, and socialist ideologies, in modern Muslim states, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia cooperated with other Muslim leaders to form the Organization of Islamic Conference. The OIC was formed in May 1971 in Rabat particularly after the loss of Muslim Holy sites in Jerusalem. According to its charter, the OIC aims to preserve Islamic social and economic values; promote solidarity amongst member states; increase cooperation in social, economic, cultural, scientific, and political areas; uphold international peace and security; and advance education, particularly in the fields of science and technology. What is wrong with this? And whilst we are at it, why not the OPEC? After all we've got the oil now?

As matters stand, it seems the double standards seem to have a life of its own. In the heat of the Vice-presidential nomination contest within the party, many were those who were happy to accept the possibility of a Muslim from the North of Ghana ever becoming an NPP flagbearer. This was ruled out as being out of the question. The option for another Muslim vice-president, received the dispirited response of "We have already had a Muslim vice president for eight long years! We must not let it become a tradition that the vice presidency become a preserve of Muslims from the North, for this will amount to tokenism.

This is what my own grandson, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr. an outspoken spokesperson of this school of thought had to say on the recent campaign by Hajia Alima for the Vice-Presidential slot on the NPP ticket: "there are also quite a remarkable number of well-performing "Christian" women cabinet members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) who could also be equally justifiably, as well as viably, trotted out as meeting the criteria of gender balance vis-à-vis Nana Akufo-Addo's selection of a running-mate. And what is more, in a democratic culture, it is the proverbial majority that carries the vote; and it is beyond dispute that there are far more Christian women among the Ghanaian electorate than there are Muslim women; and so, at best, putting forth the candidacy of Ms. Alima Mahama on the grounds of her religious identity flagrantly prejudices our entire democratic process, for it is tantamount to the unsavory practice of "tokenism," and religious tokenism has no place in the kind of secular constitutional democracy that Ghana's Fourth Republic is about. Besides, our Fourth-Republican Constitution clearly stipulates the Separation of Church (or Religion) and the State."

I even feel tempted to go as far as to suggest the in view of the current financial crunch and the collapse of major banks in the US and Europe, we need to learn fast and escape the debilitating financial dogmas we have been fed on by the Christian West. It is instructive to note that banks that follow the Islamic principles on financial dealings are still standing strong, alive and well. Isn't it perhaps time that the NPP listens to genuine Islamic bankers and not the ones from the Bank of Ghana, the World Bank and the IMF, who say nothing as Maasa says na IDU be the best? In any case, I remain strongly convinced that unless ordinary Muslims begin to put pressure on their leadership in the NPP, assisted by moderate Christians, to pull out of this international Christian organisation, the religious harmony that this country seeks to guard so jealously, risks being compromised.

Perhaps the following parody may help explain the nature of the religious fervour separating the Church from the State in the Bush White House:

"President Bush begins each day at the crack of nine o'clock kneeling on the floor of the Oval Office in his Batman flannel feety-pajamas, holding hands with a group of Christian men. They kneel there for an hour (two hours on the Lord's Day or if there are enough doughnuts) just talking to our nation's Commander-of-the-Commander-in-

Chief, the Lord Jesus. This is the Presidential Prayer team. Rev. Pat Robertson, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Rev. Bob Jones Jr., Pastor Deacon Fred, Brother Harry Hardwick, President George W. Bush, and the Lord Jesus Christ (who invisibly attends, legs crossed and dangling over the side of the Resolute desk), They comprise the elite force of spiritual warriors that most Americans consider more important and able to inflict more damage than the entire United States Military.

The President, a born-again, spirit-filled, saved-by-the-dripping-blood of Christ Christian, understands the importance of praying while other folks are watching. "It just makes sense to me," he says, "to start each day by taking matters of national security to an invisible man named Jesus who lives on a cloud in a place so darn rich their Department of Transportation has done all their roads in gold. And no matter what Jesus inspires me to say, Jesus always ends up agreeing with it - which, I guess, kind of makes sense now that I think about it." The President is concerned that there are millions of people in the world who picked the wrong God. Presidential prayer team member, Pastor Deacon Fred explains, "The Ten Commandments are proudly displayed in just about every room of this Christian White House. Most folks don't even take the time to read them. If they did, they'd see that the first commandment says that you are not supposed to have any other gods besides the God in the Bible. And I'm sorry, folks . . . but Allah is not the same God!" Pastor Deacon Fred also expresses concern about people who visit the White House with flippant disregard for the second commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image." It is a well known fact that previous residents of the White House would accept graven images of Buddha from that Llama in Tibet called Dolly, and little idols of saints from Catholic priests and other sodomites. "That's all stopped now," said Pastor Deacon Fred as he used his heavy Bible to flick a piece of 17th century Meiping porcelain depicting someone other than Jesus off its stand to loudly smash onto the marble floor. "We've instructed the President to say simply, 'No thank you, Mr. Foreign Devil' and if an idol is forced on the President by a visiting dignitary, that individual is taken aside and given a crash course on respecting God's little rulebook of Ten Commandments. If the heathen idol-worshipper is from a Red Chinese prison, they will recognize some of the techniques of Christian persuasion we use in the bunker. And the Holy Spirit don't got no patience when it comes to so-called 'diplomatic immunity' when there is soul winning at stake, my friend!"

In recent days, the Presidential prayer team spends mornings engaged in imprecatory prayer. "For the Bible illiterate," notes Dr. Jerry Falwell, "that means 'prayers against folks that rub you the wrong way.' It's true that Jesus instructs us to love our enemies, but that doesn't mean we have to like them. In complete obedience to the Lord Jesus, I can tell you, I love to see my enemies dead. As a Christian, the President knows that Jesus will eventually slaughter them all and burn them in Hell, we're just trying to speed up the process.""

Are these the kind of people we should be doing business with? Christian or Muslim? This question is clearly for the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo!

The Politics of The Polls

Re: Atta Mills leads 53.6%, Akufo-Addo 42.0% in latest polls

Feature Article of Tuesday, 18 November 2008
http://www.ghanaweb.com

The 16th November 2008 “poll” released by a so-called Policy & Strategy Associates Inc. purportedly of London, UK with results stating the NDC’s Prof. Mills was in the lead with 53.6% and Akufo-Addo 42.0% can only be charitably described as bogus.

The “poll” report does not reveal which constituencies were visited and the number of constituencies visited. As a puerile attempt to arrest its fraudulence, the report tells us: “It must be noted that this polling exercise is the third research exercise sponsored by young Ghanaian professionals who are independent, multi-partisan working associates of the Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. in the Diaspora.” No contact details of this group are provided.

The following are just a few of the inaccuracies detected through preliminary analysis undertaken by DI.

1. NON-EXISTENCE OF COMPANY Policy and Research Associates Inc. is nowhere on the radar. A preliminary check made by the Danquah Institute has drawn a blank on the existence of ‘Policy & Strategy Associates Inc anywhere in the world. The publication says it is a UK-based firm. Though the legal concept of incorporation is common across the globe, the term Inc (meaning Incorporated) is never used in the UK to refer to any registered organisation. So, Policy & Strategy Associates Inc. cannot be a British firm as claimed by the publication planted on www.ghanaweb.com and www.myjoyonline.com. In the United States, corporations are identified by the term "incorporated" (Inc.), in Germany, GmbH, and for much of Europe and Latin America it is SA.

The organisation does not appear to exist (no website nor postal address is mentioned).

2. WRONG MARGIN OF ERROR Analysing the data, statisticians of DI were quick to dismiss the ‘survey’ as a “shameless exercise of creative armchair opinion sampling.” No specific sample size is mentioned. The publishers give a range of sample sizes from about 720-765 per region. A ±4% margin of error, taking account of a minimum sample size of 7,000 to 7,200 or a maximum of 7,650 is woefully incorrect and insulting to the principles of sampling.

The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey's results. The larger the margin of error, the less faith one should have that the poll's reported results are close to reality; that is, the figures for the whole population.

The margin of error is calculated from this formula: 0.98 = M.E √n Where n = 7,000, 7,200 or 7,650 (Sample Size)

The margin of error calculated with 7,000, 7,200 or 7,650 will give you a margin of error of ± 1.17%, ± 1.15% and ± 1.12% respectively which is totally way off ±4% stated by the supposed pollsters

3. EQUAL WEIGHTING Equal weighting of respondents across the ten regions of Ghana is highly unscientific (at least 700 respondents per region as it is supposed in this case). When you assign the statistical figures in percentages and count Upper West percentile equal to Ashanti Region, you are going to make kind of error that could be generously described as “Opinion Poll Rigging.” The authors are guilty of statistical illiteracy. It is mathematically lazy and disingenuous to equate the various regions when they have vast and varied sizes in number of registered voters. Perhaps their calculation was premised on the fact that each of the regions has one regional minister, rather than the fact that the number of districts, constituencies and registered voters differ from region to region.

4. INFORMAL INTERVIEWS AND SCIENTIFIC POLLING (CONTRADICTION) “Informal” and “scientific polling” as said to have been conducted by the supposed pollsters is highly contradictory. Informal interviews allude to the fact that there’s no structured questionnaire. It is like having a drink in a beer bar and taking the advantage to talk about politics.

5. SELECTION OF SAMPLE SIZE PER REGION What is the basis for selecting at least 700 respondents per region? Which constituencies in each region were selected? What informed the selection of constituencies? Do you pick only perceived NDC strongholds leaving out NPP, PNC or CPP strongholds?

6. What was the sampling method and how did they arrive at the sample size of 720-765 per region? What was the basis of deciding on this sample size?

The piece carries the authorship of a Prince Kassim, Associate & Report Editor, Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc Email: policystrategy@consultant.com. We would advise Ghanaians to go on the web and fine out a bit more about Consultant.com.

We would also hope that the websites that published the “polls” have direct contact details to Prince and would allow Ghanaians the benefit of probing.

Ghanaians have to be mindful of ghost pollsters. The temptation of creating a false impression that you are winning may be too much for some politicians to resist.

Asare Otchere-Darko Executive Director, Danquah Institute

Comments to follow!

Ghana: Election Statistics 1951-2004

08 February 1951 Legislative Assembly Election

Registered Voters: Not Available

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 663,069

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) won a plurality of seats in the election. No figures are available.

15 June 1954 Legislative Assembly Election

Registered Voters: Not Available

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Party	Number of Seats (104)
Convention People’s Party (CPP)	71
Northern People’s Party (NPP)	12
Togoland Congress (TC)	02
Ghana Congress Party (GCP)	01
Muslim Association Party (MAP)	01
Anlo Youth Association (AYA)	01
Independents	16

17 July 1956 Legislative Assembly Election

Registered Voters 1,390,000 (approx.)

Total Votes (Voter Turnout) Not Available (approx. 50%)

Party Number of Seats (104)

Convention People’s Party (CPP) 71

Northern People’s Party (NPP) 15

National Liberation Movement (NLM) 12

Togoland Congress (TC) 02

Muslim Association Party (MAP) 01

Federation of Youth (FY) 01

Independents 02

27 April 1960 Plebiscite

Main Points: Presidential Republic, Increased Presidential Powers

Registered Voters 2,098,651

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 1,140,165

Results Number of Votes % of Votes

"Yes" Votes 1,008,740 88.47%

"No" Votes 131,425 11.53%

27 April 1960 Presidential Election

Registered Voters: 2,098,651

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 1,140,699

Candidate (Party) Number of Votes % of Votes

Kwame Nkrumah (CPP) 1,016,076 89.07%

Joseph Boakye Danquah (UP) 124,623 10.93%

31 January 1964 Constitutional Referendum

Main Points: Sole Legal Party, Increased Presidential Powers

Registered Voters: Not Available

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 2,776,372

Results Number of Votes % of Votes

"Yes" Votes 2,773,920 99.91%

"No" Votes 2,452 00.09%

Single Party Elections

Sole Legal Party: Convention People’s Party (CPP)

1965 Presidential Election (Kwame Nkrumah re-elected unopposed)

1965 National Assembly Election

29 August 1969 National Assembly Election

Registered Voters: 2,360,000 (approx.)

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Party % of Votes Number of Seats (140)

Progress Party (PP) 58.7% 105

National Alliance of Liberals (NAL) 30.4% 29

United Nationalist Party (UNP) 3.8% 02

People’s Action Party (PAP) 3.4% 02

All People’s Republican Party (APRP) 1.8% 01

Others 1.8% 01

30 March 1978 Referendum

Main Points: A union of civilian and military institutions in government

Official Question: "Do you approve whether or not some form of Union Government would become the basis of Ghana's political system?"

Registered Voters: 4,497,803

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 2,282,813

Results Number of Votes % of Votes

"Yes" Votes 1,372,427 60.11%

"No" Votes 910,386 39.89%

June & July 1979 Presidential Election

First Round (18 June 1979)

Registered Voters: 5,000,000 (approx.)

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 1,788,201

Second Round (09 July 1979)

Registered Voters: 5,000,000 (approx.)

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Candidate (Party) First Round Second Round

Number of Votes % of Votes % of Votes

Hilla Limann (PNP) 631,559 35.32% 62.0%

Victor Owusu (PFP) 533,928 29.86% 38.0%

William Ofori-Atta (UNC) 311,265 17.41% -

Frank Bernasko (ACP) 167,775 9.38% -

Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama (SDF) 66,445 3.72% -

John Bilson (TFP) 49,104 2.75% -

R.P. Baffour 8,812 0.49% -

Kwame Nyanteh 8,480 0.47% -

Mark Diamond Addy 5,959 0.33% -

Alhaji Ayannah 4,874 0.27% -

18 June 1979 National Assembly Election

Registered Voters: 5,000,000 (approx.)

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Party Number of Seats (140)

People's National Party (PNP) 71

Popular Front Party (PFP) 42

United National Convention (UNC) 13

Action Congress Party (ACP) 10

Social Democratic Front (SDF) 03

Independent 01

28 April 1992 Constitutional Referendum

Main Points: Multiparty System, Division of Powers

Registered Voters: 8,255,690

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Invalid/Blank Votes: Not Available

Total Valid Votes: 3,680,974

Results Number of Votes % of Votes

"Yes" Votes 3,408,119 92.59%

"No" Votes 272,855 07.41%

03 November 1992 Presidential Election

Registered Voters: 8,229,902

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): 4,127,876 (50.2%)

Candidate (Party) % of Votes

Jerry John Rawlings (NDC) 58.4%

Albert Adu Boahen (NPP) 30.4%

Hilla Limann (PNC) 6.7%

Kwabena Darko (NIP) 2.8%

Emmanuel Erskine (PHP) 1.7%

29 December 1992 Parliamentary Election*

Registered Voters: 7,336,846**

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): 2,059,415** (28.1%)

Party Number of Seats (200)

National Democratic Congress (NDC) 189

National Convention Party (NCP) 08

Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere (EGLE) 01

Independents 02

*The following opposition parties boycotted the election: New Patriotic Party (NPP), People’s National Convention (PNC), National Independence Party (NIP), and the People's Heritage Party (PHP).

**Registered Voters and Total Vote figures exclude 23 constituencies with unopposed candidates.

07 December 1996 Presidential Election

Registered Voters: 9,279,605

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (approx. 78%)

Candidate (Party) [Coalition] % of Vote

Jerry John Rawlings (NDC) 57.4%

John Agyekum Kufuor (NPP) [Grand Alliance] 39.6%

Edward Mahama (PNC) 3.0%

07 December 1996 Parliamentary Election

Registered Voters: Not Available

Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A)

Party Number of Seats (200)

National Democratic Congress (NDC) 133

New Patriotic Party (NPP) 60

People’s Convention Party (PCP) 05

People’s National Convention (PNC) 01

Vacant* 01

*Voting was postponed in one constituency because of a legal dispute concerning the eligibility of candidates. The seat was subsequently won by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a by-election held in June 1997.

December 2000 Presidential Election First Round (07 December 2000) Registered Voters: 10,698,652 Total Votes (Voter Turnout): 6,605,084 (61.7%) Invalid/Blank Votes: 104,214 Total Valid Votes: 6,500,870 Second Round (28 December 2000) Registered Voters: 10,698,652 Total Votes (Voter Turnout): 6,459,003 (60.4%) Invalid/Blank Votes: 77,616 Total Valid Votes: 6,381,387 Candidate (Party) First Round Second Round % of Votes Number of Votes % of Votes John Agyekum Kufuor (NPP) 48.4% 3,631,263 56.90% John Evans Atta Mills (NDC) 44.8% 2,750,124 43.10% Edward Mahama (PNC) 2.5% - - George Hagan (CPP) 1.8% - - Augustus Obuadum "Goosie" Tanoh (NRP) 1.1% - - Daniel Augustus Lartey (GCPP) 1.0% - - Charles Wereko-Brobby (UGM) 0.3% - - 07 December 2000 Parliamentary Election Registered Voters: 10,698,652 Total Votes (Voter Turnout): 6,633,306 (62.0%) Invalid/Blank Votes: 102,549 Total Valid Votes: 6,530,757 Party % of Votes Number of Seats (200) New Patriotic Party (NPP) 44.98% 99 National Democratic Congress (NDC) 41.21% 92 People’s National Convention (PNC) 3.44% 03 Convention People’s Party (CPP) 1.31% 01 National Reform Party (NRP) 2.25% - United Ghana Movement (UGM) 0.50% - Independents & Others* 6.30 04 Vacant - 01 *All four seats were won by independents **After a by-election held on 3 January 2001, the vacant seat was filled by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). 07 December 2004 Presidential Election Registered Voters: 10,354,970 Total Votes (Voter Turnout): 8,813,908 (85.1%) Invalid/Blank Votes: 188,123 Total Valid Votes: 8,625,785 Candidate (Party) [Coalition] Number of Votes % of Votes John Agyekum Kufuor (NPP) 4,524,074 52.45% John Evans Atta Mills (NDC) 3,850,368 44.64% Edward Mahama (PNC) [Grand Coalition]165,375 1.92% George Aggudey (CPP) 85,968 1.00% 07 December 2004 Parliamentary Election Registered Voters: 10,354,970 Total Votes (Voter Turnout): Not Available (N/A) Party Number of Seats (230) New Patriotic Party (NPP) 128 National Democratic Congress (NDC) 94 People's National Convention (PNC) 04 Convention People's Party (CPP) 03 Independent 01