2016 Elections = War Elections

If you should ask what peace is, you must as well ask what justice is.  If you understand what is justice you will surely know what brings peace.  If anybody tells you that this is a peaceful country, tell the person he should visit a house where the cat and the mouse live together.  While the cat lives on its master's veranda, the mouse lives comfortably in its hole.  It is when the mouse comes out of its hole to find food that you will begin to redefine peace.

Have you observed the silence that has overtaken the country since the Judgment Day?  It is not good for the country and it is worrisome.  For now nobody knows who is planning what and what is being planned for whom.  What is most disturbing is that the next general election will surely be bloody. Nobody can complain of over voting and no Jupiter can complain if a Presiding Officer fails to sign a Pink Sheet. As for verification machines, they would not be needed at any polling station because they would be considered useless. Candidates will apply the law of the jungle where the stronger survives or act like the fishes in the sea where the bigger eats the smaller.  And surely there will no more be the refrain: No Verification No Vote.  Verified or not, voters will cast their votes. That is where Presiding Officers will find themselves in danger if they try to deny voters the right to vote.  'Asem bi reba'.

Atuguba, Adinyira, Baffoe-Bonnie, Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo (5 Musketeers) have told us that if a Presiding Officer fails to sign the Pink Sheet, it is not an irregularity.  These are learned judges who understand the law and have read the Constitution very well.  Yes, they know that Article 49 (3) states categorically that: 'The Presiding Officer, the candidates or their representatives and, in case of a referendum, the parties contesting or their agents and the polling agents if any, SHALL then sign a declaration stating (a) the polling station; and (b) the number of votes in favour of each candidate's or question; and the Presiding Officer SHALL, there and then, announce the results of the voting at that polling station before communicating them to the returning officer.' And Atuguba, Adinyira, Dotse, Baffoe-Bonnie, Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo know very well that SHALL in law is mandatory.  Yet they deliberately overlooked that clause and gave judgment which has brought to us uncertainty, come 2016

Atuguba, Adinyira,  Baffoe-Bonnie, Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo looked into our lean faces and told us that if there is any over voting   it is no big deal and as such in future election we should 'do over voting'  In other words they are telling us that if any foreign material is found in a ballot box it should be considered as a ballot paper and counted as such. In fact they are telling us that next time around if you are able to use your computer to generate a ballot paper and hide it in your pocket you can 'dump' it into the ballot box and go your way. And when that leads to over voting, so be it.  I wonder what will happen at Bantama in the Ashanti Region when we go to the polls in 2016.  Even toilet rolls will be counted as ballot papers!

Atuguba, Adinyira,  Baffoe-Bonnie, Dotse, Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo  looked into the face of the Almighty God and told us that the biometric machines we used our hard earned money to buy are useless equipment and that next time when we see any biometric machine at a polling station we should use our left legs to kick it away. They said after all, biometric or no biometric verification, we are entitled to cast our votes. In other words if I go to a polling station to cast my vote and any God damned presiding officer tells me I am not entitled to vote because I have not been captured by the biometric machine I should spit in the face of that mother fucker presiding officer.

My dear reader, did you observe something I did observe on the Judgment Day?  Unlike the previous sittings when all   the nine judges filled into the Supreme Court at the same time, this time around eight of them filled in without one judge.  That person was Justice Baffoe-Bonnie. He came very late. When the rumour mill started grinding it came out that the man was holed up at the Flagstaff House.  As to what he was doing there, your guess is as good as mine.  'Ewiase ye sum' (The world is dark). Surprisingly, the same Baffoe-Bonnie's name appeared as one of the judges who dismissed the claim of voting without verification in one of the rulings circulated and in another document, he was said to have granted the claim.  What a chameleon!!

Justices Dotse, Owusu, Anin-Yeboah and Ansah will go in history as judges who believed in the sayings of Lord Denning that 'the bench is not meant for timorous souls so in time of giving judgment one should damn whose ox is gored and give the right judgment if even heavens will fall.' These gentlemen and lady gave a ruling which if had been supported by the timorous souls would have gone a long way to bring lasting peace to the people of this polarized nation of ours. Unlike others who followed their stomachs at their old ages, these judges proved to Ghanaians that we still have honest ladies and gentlemen at the bar. I will like to particularly congratulate Justice Rose Owusu, a brave woman of sterling quality.  Her husband and children will surely be proud of her. You see, in this country, legacy is loosely defined.  What the lady did was a typical example of a legacy.  Long after her death (which will not come soon until her God calls her to glory) we will forever see her as contemporary Yaa Asantewaa.

When I heard Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata tongue-lashing and chastising Justice Anin Yeboah on TV3 after the ruling, I wondered whether his stay at the Nsawam Prison had disturbed his brain. But as an old lawyer Tsikata should have known better.  Personal grudge should not be brought to the bath house of any legal tussle.  Should we also descend on Justice William Atuguba, who from the word GO did show his biasness?  This is a judge who always ruled against any objection raised by the lawyer of the petitioners.  I understood him very well because his junior brother has been appointed as the secretary to the President.  Like Tony Lithur, they all have interest in the case.  Justice Anin Yeboah should take heart and have consolation in the fact that he was tongue-lashed by an ex-convict in the person of Tsatsu Tsikata who served some time behind bars.  The man is very bitter, you know.  Instead of the man being grateful to Ex-President Kufuor who offered him a parole when he was languishing in the cells at Nsawam, he was so ungrateful.  Ex-President Kufuor appointed Annin Yeboah to the Supreme Court and so what?  Who appointed Justice Atuguba to the Supreme Court?  Time is up for us to treat yesterday's men like Tsikata with ordinary contempt for they don't matter in this current scheme of things.

Nana/Bawumia Ticket Is Still Ideal
Even though Nana Akufo-Addo has served notice that he was going to reflect on issues and come out to declare whether he will run again or not, Angel Gabriel will like to appeal to him to run again with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate.  Nana cannot afford to disappoint his teaming supporters. We all know the verdict was stolen and he deserves another chance.  This time round anyone who will like to contest the man if he decides to run again should think twice for the sake of unity in the party.  Monies which they would use to campaign for the flagbearership race could be used to strengthen party structures. The late President Mills was pushed into the ring on three occasions and he finally won the elections, though narrowly.  If in case Nana decides not to run again, his running mate, Dr. Bawumia should be given the green light to run. Dr. Bawumia's performance at the Supreme Court as a star witness has proved that he is capable of managing the affairs of this country.  Fine brains like this technocrat are rare in this part of the world and as such we need to use him while he is still young, alive and kicking.