Supreme Court Verdict; Is It Nana Addo, Mahama Or War?

I have always anticipated a sense of abhorrence on the part of the good people of this country with regards to any suggestions of conflict or unrest. However, the outburst generated by a comment I last posted on facebook on the sequence of the subject seemed to me like the swatting of an ant with a sledge hammer. Could it also be that our antennae and sensitivities as a nation in apprehension of something untoward have been unduly raised as a result of the standoffish posturing of the NDC and NPP in the current Supreme Court proceedings? Well, for the benefit of those who may not have had access to this comment on my page, I reproduce it below so as to inform the rest of this conversation.

My pastor, Mensah Otabil, says he feels a heavy cloud over this country waiting to happen in about a month's time. My call is that may it happen if that will make us think and if that thinking will make us better. I may die, but some of you will live and the lessons thereof may make more sense to our unborn generations. Our country is sick!

Ernesto Yeboah
I should be the last person to wish evil for this country. Heaven knows I have spent all my years on earth praying for the success of our beloved nation and even beyond. For the better part of my student days at the University of Ghana, I enmeshed myself in a struggle that was not only meant to improve the deplorable conditions on the campus, but indeed to affect the consciousness of my fellow youth to work in the best interest of our nation.

I may be partisan today, working as the Deputy Communications Director of the Convention People's Party (CPP) but nothing has changed so far as my love for my country is concerned. I joined the CPP because of my strong conviction that it is the only party that cansalvage this country from its socio-economic and political conundrum. The party may be weak presently, but its foundations on the vision of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah remain unshaken.

I did not join the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because of their operating software's and fears I always harboured about the future of this country under the leadership of these two parties; those fears which have now manifested themselves in the form of a Supreme Court electoral litigation putting all Ghanaians on tenterhooks.

In the last couple of days, Pastor Mensah Otabil has come under a lot of flak for his supposed prophesy about the imminent danger of war that hangs over this country; many have skewed this to mean the consequence of the election petition hearing. I am one of such persons; not particularly because of his prophesy, but because I can scientifically relate with that conclusion based on the few samples I have taken for examination.

It would be recalled that at their party headquarters on the 20th anniversary celebration of the NDC, President Mahama told the whole world that there was only one outcome from the Supreme Court petition which is, to declare him as the winner of the polls.

In a sharp rebuttal the NPP's Young Patriot stated in a press release 'it has become urgent for the Young Patriots to bring to the attention of the Ghanaian public, a war drumming machine instituted by the NDC and President Mahama in anticipation of the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling on the petition pending before it on the Election results. [June 24, 2013].

The President was again heard saying to a gathering at a ceremony to mark their 20th anniversary of the Mount Horeb Victorious Church International at Mamfe in the Eastern Region, stressing that attempts by his political opponents to derail his presidency would fail because God had ordained him as leader of Ghana.

The writings therefore are boldly on the wall that a dark cloud hangs over Ghana. The desperation of the two men is obvious; Mr. Mahama's addiction to the seat and Nana Addo's hunger to swallow the bolus of his bite. His party is not about to present him unopposed for 2016; his last bite is the court and if that fails, hell must break loose.

At least we have seen the reckless misbehaviour by the General Secretary of the NPP, 'Sir John' even after the Supreme Court had invoked the rare powers of contempt when he chose to go on a full-scale onslaught to attack the person of the Supreme Court Judges.

The posture of the two men gives no indication that either is ready to concede and congratulate the other after the court has given its final ruling. Their spin doctors, social commentators and rented press are not giving those indications either. Traveling from radio station to radio station, reading newspapers one after the other and swimming through the commentaries on facebook on the face of the pink sheets, I feel the heat and the madness that threatens our common survival to migrate to other lands in a few days time as refugees. So the question: Is war imminent? Will there be war, will there not be war? My conclusion is that we need to exercise a lot of restraint to save our nation from doom.

Ernesto Yeboah
[email protected]
Deputy Director of Communication, CPP