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15.03.2013 Press Release

CONCERNED GHANAIANS' PETITION ON GHANA ELECTIONS

CONCERNED GHANAIANS' PETITION ON GHANA ELECTIONS
15.03.2013 LISTEN

Preamble
The transfer of power is a critical issue in Africa. Recently, several countries have imploded and descended into chaos and violence when their leaders refused to step down or accept electoral defeat: Egypt, Ivory Coast, Libya, Kenya, Tunisia and Zimbabwe, among others. They may refuse outright to hold elections – as in Libya – or hold and steal elections – as in Ivory Coast, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Electoral fraud infuriates people whose votes have been stolen from them and provokes them to pour into the streets to protest. Such protests invariably escalate and turn violent -- oftentimes degenerating into mayhem with bloodshed, loss of lives and destruction of property.


The international community, generally, accepted Ghana's 2012 Presidential elections as “free and fair.” John Mahama, the declared winner, was duly sworn in, without any violent protests, on January 7, 2013. However, the biggest opposition party in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), filed a petition in Ghana's Supreme Court, (the first of its kind in the country's history), challenging the presidential results. It is noteworthy that since the first election of Ghana's Fourth Republic in 1992, 2012 Presidential election was the only other time that a majority of the political parties (5 out of 7), which participated in the contest had come out to raise major concerns about the conduct of the polls. Indeed, the second runner-up and leader of the Progressive People's Party, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, is on record as saying, "I have been involved in elections since 1992 and this is the worst in terms of credibility.”


The NPP Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, its Vice Presidential Candidate Dr. Bawumia and its National Chairman, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey have petitioned the Supreme Court of Ghana, based on the allegations below which they contend materially affect the results. The NPP also contends that its presidential candidate, Nana Addo will be declared the rightful winner, if the Supreme Court sides with its petition and annuls over 4 million illegal and invalid votes, which resulted from:

over voting
voting without biometric verification
Falsification of polling stations results by the Electoral Commission (EC) using of duplicate sets of polling stations results declaration forms that have same serial numbers as the actual polling station results declaration forms. These duplicate sets of results declaration forms were used for different polling stations.

Declaration Forms not signed by Presiding Officer or assistant

Same polling station code, different results
23 Locations where voting took place not on list 0f 26002 polling stations created by EC

Deliberate over-bloated register including 241,524 overseas voters which could not be supported by a list of names

Various combinations of above listed

Since the filing of the case in the Supreme Court of Ghana on December 28, 2012, several delay tactics and pre-trial motions have prevented the necessary speedy trial. This includes the unnecessary frivolous applications for joinders by over 500 persons aligned to the NDC after NPP presented its incontrovertible evidence to the Supreme Court.

All these are taking place at the time when Ghanaians are becoming increasing concerned about the direction of their country. In recent times, there have been shortages of basic necessities. People have gone without water and electricity for days in major capital cities and metropolitan towns. The judiciary reviewing cases of fraud and bribery and corruption has continued to surprise the populace by deliberate legal wrangling intended to prevent the proper disposition of justice. Specifically, judgment debts cases are going nowhere. In particular, people are not convinced that there will be justice in the famous $52M Woyome judgment debt case. People wonder whether the so-called Judgment Debt one-man commission is a serious exercise. There appears to be the looting of the treasury leading to cases of gas shortage and aviation fuel shortage. Meanwhile, drug peddlers continue to roam free and violent crimes are increasing.


PETITION
We the Ghanaian Diasporans having observed the 2012 elections and the post election evidence gathering and the court deliberations hereby present the following petition:

The Supreme Court
We petition the Supreme Court of Ghana to consider and take the following into serious consideration:

· The Supreme Court must act with speed. Justice delayed is Justice denied!

· The Supreme Court must assert itself as an institution of relevance and august importance and not subject itself to ridicule. It must therefore deal harshly with anyone introducing unnecessary frivolous joinders to abuse the process and make mockery of the judiciary, law and order and institutions of democracy.

· The Supreme Court Justices must be bold, courageous, independent and honest and apply the laws to the facts and evidence before them without fear or favor to save the infant democracy and republic from sinking and thereby make Ghana a country of laws not a country of men.

· The Supreme Court must act to deter any future election malpractices.

The Ghana Government
We petition the government in transition in Ghana:
· To cease and desist from all acts of intimidation, threats and violence on the people of Ghana

· To cease from unnecessary delay tactics in the case before the Supreme Court

· Entrench democracy in Ghana by not interfering with the smooth running of the Supreme Court case

The Ghanaian community
We ask the Ghanaian community:
· To exercise care and caution as the legal process goes through its normal course.

· To be vigilant in order to protect its infant democracy, the rule of law and the republic.

The International Community
We petition the International Community to support the legal process by the following actions:

· Present representations to observe the process and encourage law and order to continue to take hold in Ghana.

· Support the outcome that produces justice and ultimately lasting peace and stability not necessarily the status quo which may have weak foundation

· Support the path taken by the NPP since this ensures lasting peace for Ghana

Signed:
Nana Kwaku Adjei-Yeboah - 001.413.330.4563
Mohammed Idris - 001.703.628.3676
Kwaku Amoo-Asante - 001.202.277.9466[[email protected]]

Recipients
1. Ghana Embassy in DC
2. Ghana UN representation
3. The State Department
4. IFES
5. NDI
6. NED
7. Embassies in Ghana
8. The Carter Foundation
9. The Commonwealth Secretariat
10. OAU
11. The ECOWAS
12. UN
13. IMF
14. The World Bank
15. Council on Foreign Relations
16. Straight Talk Africa

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