Letter to Jean Mensah and Bossman Asare: You are a National Security Threat

“Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.” Plato

The limited registration exercise of Ghana's Electoral Commission [EC] is nothing short of gerrymandering. The partisan posture of Jean Mensah heretofore an admirable lady at IEA, and Bossman Asare erstwhile political science lecturer at the University of Ghana is very worrisome. Despite his lofty authority in the subject of political science, Bossman is gradually cascading into an unthinkable New Patriotic Party [NPP] serial caller by being a poodle of Akufo-Addo and on the verge of destabilizing Ghana. Gerrymandering has been a debacle to democracy and with the new round of limited voter legislation, it is a bigger threat than ever. Three main types of gerrymandering: cracking, packing, and limited franchise will be my focus.

Cracking is a type of gerrymandering that divides electorates with similar characteristics such as voters of the same party affiliation across multiple constituencies. As their voting strength divides, these groups struggle to elect their preferred candidate in any constituency. Akufo-Addo deliberately divided other regions leaving NPP strongholds provinces like Eastern and Ashanti Regions because he was a gerrymander of cracking.

Packing is the opposite of cracking wherein EC crams certain groups of voters into as few constituencies as possible. In these few constituencies, the packed groups are likely to elect their preferred candidates, but the group voting strength is weakened everywhere else. This partly explains why Akufo-Addo subjected many inhabitants of the regions he divided into juvenal lunacy as he was busily creating more districts in the Ashanti and Eastern regions. More districts mean more constituencies and more representation. This amounts to a gerrymandering known as packing.

Limited or restricted franchise is a type of gerrymandering wherein the gerrymander is afraid of losing power and therefore divides means to limit voting in the political opponents' stronghold. Limited Franchise was introduced by the Goggisburg constitution of 1925. The focus of the 1925 constitution was property-based franchises. Many National Democratic Congress supporters are patriotic Ghanaians in the rural communities farming to help the country. The same support base of Nkrumah. NPP cannot cannot come near NDC when it comes to competent human resources. Jean Mensah and Bossman Asare restricting people's right to vote in the NDC support base is unconstitutional and a big national security threat. EC will not be allowed to foist NPP leader on Ghanaians as Jean Mensah did in 2020. Nkrumah's Ghana will live forever. Long live Ghana, God Bless Our Country Ghana.

Nana Yaw Osei, PhD, Minnesota, USA
[email protected].