President John Mahama
The suspense triggered by President John Mahama’s hesitance to concede defeat at a time when it was glaring he had lost the polls inched towards boiling point.
It is standard practice to concede defeat when the arithmetic shows at a certain stage in the collation process that there is no way the incumbent can alter the outcome of the polls. When an incumbent does that, he leaves with deference not so, however, when the scenario we witnessed on December 8 is played out because the President is implored by some of his aides not to do that just yet.
The country held its breath as his lieutenants, the managers of his propaganda department, continued to stoke the fire with their mendacious “we are in a comfortable lead. We have the figures.”
A national security crisis was in the offing: a fact the ordinary man in the street did not appreciate at the time. Little wonder some NDC supporters allowed themselves to be used for what was akin to a theatrical performance. They were convinced that they had won the election and Ghanaians wondered the source of their confidence.
It took international diplomats and eventually the President’s top Generals to ask him to concede, as Ghanaians had spoken emphatically.
He therefore had to ignore the bad counsel of his young men with sharp teeth who kept encouraging him not to concede. They were expecting some magic to reverse the reality on the ground. Having declared that he would win one-touch and had even imported victory cloth to celebrate his triumph over his opponents, he did not expect the verdict of his compatriots.
Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party, Ade Coker, worsened the matter when he led party supporters on a victory march to the President who would have thought that he was being mocked knowing full well at this stage that he had lost the elections.
In the face of the foregone, however, some persons are seeking to present President John Mahama as a man who conceded defeat without prompting a political angel who would not hurt a fly. That is not the case. He held on for far too long until it was getting too late. To say that one was waiting for the final tally from the Electoral Commission (EC) when it was arithmetically possible to determine one’s fate was to act rather irresponsibly.
He had no option than to concede anyway. After all, majority of Ghanaians had decided through the ballot box that the time was up for him to exit the seat of power.
Those who sit on radio and spew remarks which are not commensurate with the reality are not doing justice to our democracy.
We feel insulted when we are compared with countries like the Gambia. Those who do so say that President Mahama could have acted the way Yahya did. Never, we have outgrown that political stupidity. If Yahya Jammeh can reverse his concession, such cannot happen in Ghana where the power of the thumb cannot be compromised.