Pontius Pilate orders the crucification of the New Patriotic Party (A)

It was permissible in the fifties and early sixties to use every means by the ruling government to rig elections in order to perpetrate itself in power. It was also permissible to keep the bulk of the citizenry illiterate and ignorant to make them will swallow line, hook and sinker anything their party elders tell them. But in the light of dramatic changes that have taken place within the last couple of years, such things are no longer permissible

Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan, Capo of Ghana's Electoral Commission has done his worst. He arrogated unto himself powers which he did not have under the Constitution and reduced the country into a fiefdom under his capricious rule. Like Pontius Pilate in the Bible, he superintendent over Ghana's electoral process and pronounced a verdict of death on the country's democratic system. The difference between our own Afari Djan and the Biblical Pontius Pilate is that whereas the latter did allow Jesus Christ to state his case and also ask him some pertinent questions, our own Afari Djan did no such thing. “Go to court if you feel aggrieved”, said Afari Djan with callous detachment.

During the collation of the December, 2008 Presidential Election, the NDC complained of “strange” figures in the votes of Bantama Constituency and the offending material was expunged. In this year's elections the NPP also noticed certain anomalies in the figures submitted and complained to the E.C. But the principle of natural justice was not what was prevalent on the mind of Dr. Afari Djan at that time. He was hell bent on pronouncing the fatwa on the NPP. The party had asked for a little more time to enable it collate and present its evidence to the Electoral Commission .An hour or two delay in announcing the result would not have affected the sanctity of the election. But not this Hitler and Mussolini of a man whose single passion in life is to see to the decimation of the New Patriotic Party! With utter indifference, he told representatives of the party that he would go ahead with the announcement of the Presidential Results and that if the NPP did not like it, the party could go to court.

Fellow Ghanaians, nobody wants to plunge this country into chaos. Rather, it is the intransigence and arrogant posture of Dr Afari Djan and the hurriedly assembled Peace Council whose actions and inactions that have brought the country to the precipice of chaos. We should not overlook the fact that every single act of the EC's capo has right from the beginning been a recipe for chaos and violence. Afari Djan simply, would not listen to the voice or reason. His self centredness got the better part of him and consumed him in the end.

Right from onset, I passed a vote of no confidence in him by disagreeing with all those who felt that because he had conducted successful elections before, this last one was going to follow the same trend. To such people, I refer them to the Holy Bible, where King Solomon served God with all his heart but ended up displeasing God by going after other gods' indirect contravention of God's commandment against serving any other gods but Him.

The sins of Afari Djan are many, unforgettable and unforgiving. The allegation by a member of one of State Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) I think from Ondo State that Ghana's Electoral Capo has told him that it would be better for the NDC to win than the NPP. When asked to comment on such allegation, he arrogantly dismissed it with a mere wave of his hands.

There have also numerous allegations bordering on receiving some largesse from Government to soften the grounds for the NDC's eventual win in this year's Parliamentary and Presidential Elections. One of such rumours flying around is that the NDC Government has bought a mansion for him in a country of his choice. How authentic these rumours are, I do not know and so cannot say much but his recent actions which are always tilted in favour of the NDC gives one the impression that there allegations might be true after all.

Again, why should the provisional voters' register be more than the final one, for the provisional ones might contain double registration and those of minors which will be expunged before the final list comes out. Afari Djan owes Ghanaians a lot of explanation on that.

Another poser for Afari Djan is this: Why did he wait till the last minute before giving out the voters' registers to the various political parties? Some of the parties got theirs less than one week to the day of the polls. Why? Was it to make it impossible for them to raise any issue or objections?

Can Dr. Afari Djan look Ghanaians in the eye and tell them why Ketu South Constituency should have a voter population as high as 126,000 or thereabout? When Weija Constituency had a voter population of nearly 150,000, Afari Djan split it into three. Why then was Ketu South not given a similar dose? What was the Census figure? If an audit of the voters was conducted, can we see the people physically present? Nobody is ever going to convince me that the figures were not bloated.

I now wish to comment on the National Peace Council led by Rev Dr .Emmanuel Asante Antwi. I do not know whether it plays any mediating role amongst the various political parties and the Electoral Commission. One incident however made me worry. When Sir John, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party said on Saturday Night that the NPP had won the Presidential polls by a certain percentage, what did he do? He quickly called a Press Conference very late in the night to condemn the' declaration'.

There were many issues regarding the conduct, counting and collation of the results but the Peace Council has for some inexplicable reason chosen to be quiet. This is ungodly and unchristian. We must not overlook the fact that God abhors injustice. Injustice brings discontent for there can be no peace without justice. The entire country and the rest of the world would like to know what our revered man of God has done about the injustice perpetrated against the new Patriotic Party which happens to be one of the key players in the chess game being played on the political terrain.

Why are they forcing Akufo Addo and the NPP to accept the results of the flawed election and concede defeat when he Reverend Dr Asante Antwi himself knows that there are certain important issues to be trashed out? Couldn't he have advised the EC's Chairman to tone down his belligerent posture when he treated with contempt the major concerns of the New Patriotic Party.

When the Israelites wanted to appoint another leader who would lead them back to Egypt, it displeased God and he decided to strike them with numerous plagues. It took the boldness and ingenuity of Moses to intercede for them. We would have loved a situation where you would pour cold water on an inferno. We would have loved a situation where you as Chairman of the Peace Council would advise moderation instead of adding fuel to a raging inferno. If you had advised Afari to exercise a little bit of moderation by delaying his pronouncement, the precipice we have come to would have been averted.

Let us not forget the role Abraham playing to thwart God's decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He interceded for the people and that probably saved Lot and his family from danger. The men of God on the Peace Council shirked their responsibility. Why were they on the Council in the First Place? We all are for peace and anything that has the propensity to bring about chaos and confusion should be nipped in the bud as soon as any such thing reared its ugly heard. I expected our respected man of God and Chairman of the Peace council to have thought first of all about Christian Principles when Dr Afari Djan negated all principles of natural justice. That is the time your peacemaking skills should have been brought in to act as a moderating influence on the Capo of the EC. Unfortunately, you failed to do that and that displeased God.

I now turn my attention to the facility at Dzorwulu that was allegedly used to transmit election results to the EC's Head quarters here in Accra. A Representative of the Company says they are working for the Electoral Commission, but the latter in a public statement has denied having anything to do with the said company. The pertinent questions are who is telling the truth and which of the two is deceiving Ghanaians? And if I may ask, why have the security personnel not arrested those in charge of the transmission facility? That should have been done a long time ago. If later investigations reveal that the EC has had some dealings with the said company, Afari Djan should be arrested and taken to the International Tribunal at The Hague. I suggest an International Investigating Body be charged with such an investigation.

Daniel Danquah Damptey (Damptey_daniel@yahoo.com) 0243715297.

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