Pink Sheeting an African Election

By the time Charlotte “lip gloss” Osei, Ghana's electoral Commissioner conceded defeat to the NPP and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo on Friday the 9^th of December, we already knew what the results were and were simply waiting for the lady to commit “hari-kari” by trying to rip the “pink sheets” apart.

Throughout the year, in the run up to the elections, Ghanaians had fought nearly every single day of the week and months to challenge all the sleight of hand tricks that the Commissioner and the team could conjure.

At one point, she disqualified half of them on flimsy reasons of not completing their forms properly and then raised the deposit base for filing fees, with the intention of running some of them out of the competition, knowing full well that the NDC would have no problem coming up with the deposit.

Then she decided that using drones for monitoring the elections would raise a charge, but I am not sure that drone thing had no truth in it.

Now go back to the beginning of the election competition, which started soon after the NPP lost the election petition at the Supreme Court, a decision most Ghanaians still “can't think far” about, but orders from the Supreme Court, had they been implemented sooner rather than later could have avoided a whole load of aggravation.

But for some reason, the lady with most lip-gloss was bent on creating mayhem in the country, and she nearly did, as we went back and forth in court and she seemed to be swerving Ghanaians and the Courts.

Then abruptly we came to the end of the road. And whether we liked it or not, we were going to the polling stations.

So many Ghanaians saw all these shenanigans as tactically meant to run the gauntlet in favour of the NDC and John Mahama. Especially so when the President kept yelling at every opportunity to let the EC be.

Ghanaians would have none of it and eventually we voted for a “no-rigging” election. This election was clearly Ghanaians telling the incumbent and his people and his EC that we had arrived at the end of the road.

No matter what was said and done, Ghanaians stayed vigilant to the end. Even when strange hands were tampering with keyboards and the transmission of data.

And what did we achieve?
I think we have succeeded once and for all in telling Governments and the Institutions that manage our country that we will not have this nonsense again. Ghana is going to change and for the better.

And I doff my hat to the Supreme Court. They could have been more determined, but we have to acknowledge that it could have gone haywire but for their resoluteness and determination to stamp some authority on the one weakest flaw in our democracy; the Electoral Register.

Now we know we can remove any person who monkeys around with our votes, out of office. We know, and they know that once we have removed a seemingly intractable government like the NDC from the seat of office and the seats of Parliament, we will be relentless in our quest to completely settle into a “fontomfrom” rhythm of searching for the proper music to keep us gyrating.

We need to solve the finance and economic issues. A pretty well run down economy, but we should show faith and support for the new government. They have promised much, we have seen some of their handy work, but it will not be easy.

Should we go easy? No! Not in the least bit. This political crass we have is not what we want. We must insist on better.

You need only look at the track and field competitors on the continent and see that we are nowhere near arriving at any renaissance. And before I forget, let me ask John Mahama, where is the African Renaissance he was running around ECOWAS and half of the world pontificating about?

I hear he is a very wealthy man, and he better be. Rumour has it he has birthed something like twenty children. If true, he should pull out his wallet and start looking after them. We expect at least that much from him and he should not think the State will look after them.

I am not sad to see the back of him and the NDC. It was a poorly run campaign and not worthy of Ghanaians. If you come running to me with “Eye Zu, Eye Za” don't expect me to crow about some infrastructure mirage. The lights at the Nkrumah Circle already lighteth not.

Why have a success slogan that you have changed Nkrumah Circle into Dubai? Is Kwame Nkrumah not bigger than Dubai? And should we not be more proud of our heritage rather than to caricature a country whose opulence is theirs to revel?

I am not an Nkrumahist, but crikey, I will praise Nkrumah every time for what he did right than where he lost sight of the end goal.

Just read the litany of the leaders we have “pedestaled” in Africa.

Celebrations erupted across the tiny West African nation last week when Yahya Jammeh unexpectedly conceded defeat after the election commission announced the victory of opposition candidate Adama Barrow.

However, in a dramatic about-face that drew international condemnation, the mercurial former coup leader on Friday decried “serious and unacceptable abnormalities” and called for fresh polls.

In a statement broadcast on state television late on Saturday, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) said it was preparing a petition “against the flawed decision of the Independent Elections Commission”.

The deadline for submitting a challenge to the court is Tuesday.

Gambia's president-elect, Adama Barrow, has hinted that he will swear himself in as substantive president when the tenure of outgoing Yahya Jammeh runs out in January.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has been warned to end his second term in office on Sunday or risk major violence in the coming days.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement on Friday calling on him to make a public commitment before the end of his second term, respect the constitution and leave office.

“There is a grave risk that Congo could descend into widespread violence and chaos in the coming days, with potentially volatile repercussions across the region,” the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth warned.

He cited as a likelihood of armed conflict: a nationwide mobilization for large-scale demonstrations beginning on December 19 to pressure Kabila to leave office, as well as, leaders of armed groups in the eastern part of the country saying the army and police will no longer be “legitimate” after December 19.

“The country's brittle security forces could fracture if Kabila relies on force to stay in power, and Congo's neighboring countries could become involved, as they have during past fighting in Congo”.

Kabila is required by constitutional term limits to step down when his second mandate ends on December 19 but a constitutional court ruled that he can stay on until a new successor is elected.

A lawyer for the Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping, who is still disputing the re-election of President Ali Bongo, has been missing for three days, according to Ping's team.

Eric Iga Iga, one of two lawyers who represented Ping in Constitutional Court in September when he sought to challenge Bongo's victory, vanished without explanation on Thursday, Iga Iga's associates said.

And in contrast, this is what we did.
Nana Akufo-Addo of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been declared winner and president-elect of the Republic of Ghana.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana declared the final results on Friday night with the NPP flagbearer beating the president by securing 5,716,026 votes making 53.85%.

“By the power vested in me as the chairperson of the electoral commission and the returning officer for the presidential election, it is my duty and my privilege to declare Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the president-elect of the Republic of Ghana,” EC Chairperson Charlotte Osei declared.

This is our Ghana. It can be heart-wrenching many a time, but we have sailed through and making headway to another era. We better not get it wrong this time. NPP messed up before. Let there be no repeat of our history.

Lesson learnt. You can't steal a Pink Sheet in Ghana.

Ghana. Aha a ye de papa. Alius valde week advenio. Another great week to come.

Sydney Casely-Hayford, [email protected]