Beyond The Rhetorics: As We Await The Verdict Of The Supreme Court On The Election Petition

As we wait for the verdict of the highest court of the land on the historic election petition case, I wish to commend the National Peace Council, the Institute for Democratic Governance and others for putting up the 'National Summit' on the theme: 'Justice, Peace and Reforms will Strengthen Ghana'. This has happened at a time of some perceived anxiety and apprehension in the country. There is a school of thought that the thin line that made the difference in Ghana after the 2008 elections which was completely absent in the Kenyan situation leading to post election violence in 2007 was some of the above proactive initiatives by civil society organizations and some statesmen who were bold enough to intervene. While such initiatives must be encouraged, there is the need to go beyond declarations and make sure that the rank and file of political parties commit to the principles of peace and our security agencies are alert to avert any violent confrontation.

I wish to raise a few issues of concern here but I will be careful not to incur the wrath of the Justices of the Supreme Court to warrant any kind of invitation. Indeed, when we went for a referendum on 28th April, 1992 to give our blessing to the 1992 Constitution, we impliedly made a solemn pledge to accept its tenets and respect its institutions and ultimately uphold its rule. But the question is how did we get here? I will attempt an answer. Out of distrust for one another over the years, our politicians opted for a biometric voter's register coupled with a system of verification. We ordinary citizens looked on while this decision was made. It cost the taxpayer a whooping GH¢ 243.5m to conduct the last elections when we have other pressing needs to address with our rather scarce resources. As if that was not enough, we are confronted with controversies over the elections thus bringing us this far. Don't get me wrong. I am all for a free, fair, credible and transparent elections and I believe that any system that will ensure that, should be supported. Indeed, our electoral system has improved tremendously over the years in our bid to make our elections more credible. I know some will argue that democracy is expensive and that when we opted for it we should be prepared to pay the price. I also agree but I do not think that the decision to go biometric was based on any empirical research which suggested that our electoral system was so flawed that we necessarily had to go biometric and move a step further to do verification at the same time. It was simply the cry from the same politicians who, being afraid of their own shadows, placed such a huge burden on the state and I wonder if they pause to reflect on these issues.

So we ended up in a legal tussle after investing so much in a system we believed was more credible and transparent to enhance our electoral system. As for the Electoral Commission as an institution, I believe we would have enough time to scrutinize its performance after the verdict. Suffice it to say though that Ghana's Electoral Commission remains one of the best in Africa. There is absolutely no doubt about that. A comparative study of electoral commissions and their operations in West Africa reveals unbelievable stories in some countries where elections are held in the homes of some candidates and results declared at polling stations where election materials never arrived till after close of polls! This may sound unbelievable but true. That notwithstanding, we need to examine the performance of our so-called independent constitutional bodies. The Constitution made them independent for one key reason; to insulate them from the control and manipulation of persons or groups of persons to their advantage. However, I do not think that the constitutional protection implies that they should not be accountable to the people of Ghana in the performance of their constitutional functions.

Back to our politicians. Knowing very well that the law lies in the bosom of the Justices of the Supreme Court, these same politicians while the case is pending before court, decided to drag us further into a quagmire by constantly raising the expectations of their supporters to the effect that they are winning the case. The question is what are they seeking to achieve? What if the reverse happens? Will they have the courage to face their supporters and convince them? Why do some of politicians take delight in fomenting trouble and leaving us in constant state of panic? Now we have to take up another burden of undoing the effects of the actions by irresponsible politicians. In fact, the unnecessary stress some of our irresponsible politicians put us through is, to say the least, worrying and unacceptable.

It is good to cause our politicians to mount platforms and make utterances in the full glare of the general public to demonstrate their commitment to peace but here is the case we cannot reconcile their actions with their words. Only God knows what they do on our blind side. We have been witnesses to situations where decisions at Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings are never communicated to their supporters hence they remain ignorant on issues. We can therefore not rely on the promises they make and can't keep.

Nevertheless, we the citizens must rise up and be counted. The power to make or unmake the politicians is in our hands. We hold equal stake in this country as anyone else and should not sit down for anyone to destroy this nation. Whereas some politicians have visas in their passports and hold other nationalities and can run for their safety when there is conflict, we don't. We have been hosting our neighbours who are always in turmoil in one way or the other so where do we turn to? Is it the Gulf of Guinea? Obviously no! That is why we must not do anything to undermine the peace and security of this country. We have gone through challenging moments before and we have succeeded in proving our skeptics wrong. It is time to do that again and history will be on our side. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous speech against the war in Vietnam, 'There comes a time that silence is betrayal'. We cannot look on unconcerned when we can stand up and speak out against acts that have the tendency to undermine our collective peace and progress. As Dante Alighieri said, 'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality'.

Out attitudes as citizens after the verdict matter if we want to maintain the peace we currently enjoy in this country. Definitely, those who win will rejoice and the losers will be unhappy. But we must understand that it is a victory for Ghana and not for the petitioners or respondents and their supporters. We shall all beat our chest and be proud that when people resorted to the use of guns, we resorted to the use of the gavel. All the petty teasing of political opponents to the extent that some people carry coffins and bury their opponents and the like are simply unnecessary as they will only result in provocations and elicit ugly reactions.

Beyond the rhetoric for prayer and peace, I think our security agencies should be on high alert. They should, as a matter of urgency, intensify intelligence gathering on any possible plans by any person or groups of persons to destabilize the nation. All possible hotspots must be mapped and the appropriate strategies devised to counter any disturbances. I think we have had a couple of surprises that, in my opinion, are inexcusable. The Ashaiman incident a few weeks back is a case in point.

Finally to the youth, who are mostly the perpetrators of violence, we have a beautiful nation with a bright future that we must safeguard. If we connive with any adult to destroy this nation, we would suffer the brunt thereafter. Remember, when there is violent conflict we would have no schools to attend, no churches or mosques to worship, no teachers to teach us, nowhere to work, no stadium to watch football, and no opportunities for living to exploit. Our West African neighbours will tell us that post conflict reconstruction is a painful process. Let us concentrate on consolidating our gains.

*The author is a youth development practitioner, as well as a policy and security analyst