Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
In fact, if the NPP were to properly learn the lessons of their electoral defeat, Ghana's elections will never be the same again. The “campaign” for votes through “trokosi” and “cow herd” insults, as well as the “we Akans” and “all die be die” would all disappear! Elections would be festive, entertaining, and there would be less tension. It is about time that things change for the better. Peace-loving Ghanaians are sick and tired of the fact that each time Ghana is going into elections, one feels as though our nation is preparing for a civil war. That is why it is very important to help them to learn their lessons. One way of doing so ought to be a zero tolerance for the irresponsible utterances from their elected officers. We need, as a people, to make such reckless comments a thing of the past. If we want peace to reign in Ghana, these are the little things we must pay attention to.
I
was indeed very surprised to read today, Friday, 30th August, 2013,
just a day after the Supreme Court had delivered their verdict
dismissing the Akufo-Addo-led petition, the irresponsible utterances
are beginning to show their ugly heads, once more. Newspaper reports
indicate that the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP),
Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, "has insinuated that President John Mahama
and the vice president may have known the election petition verdict
ahead of the pronouncement by the Supreme Court on Thursday."
See: Sir
John: Why did Mahama wear white on judgment day? | General News
2013-08-30 Source: radioxyzonline.com,
Sir
John needs to be reminded that he could be hauled again before the
court to give "further and better particulars" regarding
the insinuation "that President John Mahama and the vice
president may have known the election petition verdict ahead of the
pronouncement by the Supreme Court on Thursday," simply because
they were both dressed in white clothes before the verdict was
announced! Sir John told XYZ Breakfast Show host Moro Awudu on Friday
August 30, 2013 that: “He knows best what went into all this.
Indeed it amazes me that he and his vice president and all the people
around him wore white even in the morning before the verdict came”.
Sir John, therefore, wondered if the president and the governing
National Democratic Congress were privy to some information about the
verdict which the rest of the country did not know.
This
is not just nonsensical. This is bad behaviour especially coming from
someone who has been made to sign a bond of good behaviour! Since
"you and I were not there" when the Justices of the Supreme
Court arrived at their judgements, there is a strong inference that
the insinuation of Sir John is a direct attack on the integrity of
the Justices of the Supreme Court who are the only people supposed to
keep custody of their judgement. The best way to maintain the peace
and stability of Ghana does not include tolerating bad behaviour from
someone who is already under judicial bond to behave himself! The
statement is particularly unfortunate, since the only people who
could have supposedly divulged such information to the Presidency
would have to be the Justices of the Supreme Court! Since such an act
would clearly be deemed wrong by any right thinking Ghanaian, is Sir
John not by this assertion, directly or indirectly impugning the
integrity of the Justices of the Supreme Court?
Is
he not frontally attempting to bring the integrity of the Justices of
Supreme Court into disrepute? Sir John is no ordinary citizen of the
Ghana. Even ordinary voters are supposed to be at least, eighteen
years old and of a sound mind! Sir John is not only an elderly
person, he is also the General Secretary of the main Opposition
party. He is also a lawyer who ought to know better! Of all the
troubles our nation is facing, must this be the focus of the General
Secretary of the main Opposition party? What is even most surprising
about these utterances is that he has just been convicted of contempt
and was supposed to have signed a bond of good behaviour or risk a
jail sentence of six months! During his contempt hearing, the
President of the panel of Judges expressed some uncertainty about the
contrite nature of Sir John when he appeared before them. It was a
gesture to peace and tranquillity that Sir John was given the benefit
of the doubt and a chance to be of good behaviour.
I
was not sure myself if such an apparently incorrigible hard-core
adult delinquent of that nature could rise to the occasion, but I
understood the wisdom of the court decision. After reading Sir John's
latest outbursts, I think otherwise. The whip must crack. That seems
to be the only language people like this understand. It looks as
though Sir John will never change for the better. My greatest fear is
that if he gets off the hook, he would quickly revert to his bad old
ways. As one commentator put it, "He has said all manner of
things including saying that the President had a hand in the accident
that the running mate had up north. Indeed his wise running make came
out boldly debunking this claim of this demented and schizophrenic
wreck." What makes this particularly annoying is the fact that
Sir John asked NPP supporters to wear white even before the Electoral
Commission had finished tallying the 2012 electoral results!
“For
somebody who sought to usurp the power of the Electoral Commissioner
by pre-emptively announcing to the supporters of NPP to wear white to
church on Sunday even before all the results were for the 2012
election were in”, commented Che on Ghanaweb, “Sir John must be
living in a fool's paradise for reading all sorts of imports into the
President and his vice wearing white while waiting for the results of
the NPP court petition. There is nothing wrong with one having a
positive anticipatory result of an awaited pronouncement. In this
case the President and his vice were right while sir John's forecast
with respect to the 2012 elections were foolishly wrong. Go figure
who should be judging the other. Some kind of jealous posture by a
misguided mind like that of Sir John.” (Comment: LISTEN TO THE
IDIOT, Author: CHE, Date: 2013-08-30 10:03:25, Comment to: Sir John:
Why did Mahama wear white on judgment day).
“The
Gas wear white to mourn; how about that?” Nana Ansah also wrote as
a comment, “Waving a white flag means accepting defeat world wide.
So for this illiterate Kokoase champion to make such a fallacious
statement is no wonder because he is a Kokoase Krakye.” (Nana
Ansah, Date: 2013-08-30 08:59:10, Comment to: WHY DID NPP WEAR
BLACK?) Another commentator wrote: “But NPP supporters were also
dressed in white waiting at the party headquarters. did they know
something we did not also know?” (Comment: Nonsense, Author: Sally,
UK, Date: 2013-08-30 08:27:51, Comment to: Why did Mahama wear white
on judgment day).
It
must be instructive that a Law lecturer at the GIMPA Law
School, Ernest Kofi Abotsi says one can still fall into the trap of
contempt of court even after the judgement
on the election petition has been delivered. He said “the fact that
the court’s judgement has ended with the
slamming of the gavel does not imply that the jurisdiction of the
court” to bring contempt proceedings is ousted. Any person who
makes comments on the judgment which the court considers scandalous
and injurious to its reputation can be cited for contempt and
punished, he said. “When the court speaks and you say things about
the court that can be deemed to be scandalizing of the court, or
deemed intentional of bringing the administration of justice into
disrepute, actually this is the time, in my opinion, when contempt of
court may be looming large,” Mr. Abotsi stated. He was a panelist
on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show discussing the verdict of the
Supreme Court on the election petition. (See:
Watch! You can still be in contempt after judgment – Law lecturer
| Local News, Myjoyonline.com|Malik Abass Daabu,
August 29, 2013, 12:50 GMT)
Perhaps the best and
the most prophetic comment on this was: “You wait they will catch him
again.” - Author: SIMPLY RUTHLESS, Date: 2013-08-30 09:23:47,
Comment to: WHY DID NPP WEAR BLACK?
Comment:
“He thinks Atuguba is gone!”
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