Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has no strategy to surmount the hurdles of any competitive election.
John Mahama relied on his darling girl, Charlotte Osei, to do his bidding in 2016, but the will of the people swept the NDC off its feet, losing that year’s elections miserably, the worst performance by a presidential candidate and his party in the Fourth Republic.
What has been consistent about the actions of the NDC since Jean Mensa took over the affairs of the Electoral Commission (EC), is its fight against the Chairperson.
In the case of this year’s elections for instance, the NDC began its fight about the modalities for the registration of voters. The NDC and its allies were the only people who opposed the use of the Ghana Card as the sole identity for the registration of eligible voters.
John Mahama and his group insisted on a different identity; the guarantor system that was persistently abused.
After shouting from the rooftops about the Jean Mensa-led EC attempting to rig the 2020 elections, the NDC changed its tone a few days to the polls boasting that whether Jean Mensa liked it or not, she will be compelled to declare its candidate, John Mahama, winner of the polls.
Despite their protestations on the streets in Accra and elsewhere that the EC had rigged the polls in favour of sitting President Akufo-Addo, and even after Sammy Gyamfi proclaimed John Mahama, president-elect, Jean Mensa performed her constitutional obligation by affirming the will of the people. The NDC did not accept the results and proceeded to the Supreme Court with an election petition without facts, data, and above all evidence.
Fast forward the NDC is back to its intrigues every election year, especially when the party is in opposition. In spite of assurances from the Jean Mensa-led EC that nothing untoward will happen during the polls, the NDC is still not convinced. After all, every executioner fears to lie down supine. Right from the registration exercise last year to the present, the NDC has made it clear that it does not believe the EC can conduct a free, fair, credible and transparent election.
In cahoots with some other individuals and groups who don’t believe in processes, procedures and rules, they began the assault on the EC for mistakes in a register called provisional not final, which presupposes that there is a window of opportunity to correct the so-called mistakes.
The NDC, without the facts dared the EC to many unthinkable things, one of which include a forensic audit and a live coverage of its meeting with the EC. When initially, the NDC’s request was shot down, hell broke loose. Then out of the blue, the Jean Mensa-led EC summoned a meeting of IPAC members last Tuesday, with NDC’s Omane Boamah, the party’s Director of Elections boasting, “today be today”.
However, when asked to articulate his concerns before the cameras, he fumbled and the NDC agitations crash-landed.
The NDC, in an attempt to whitewash its failure, issued a statement signed by its General Secretary, Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, making other demands but shelved its demands for forensic audit.
Of significance to us is the toning down of its militant stance to a plea for collaboration with the EC to resolve any issue with the register, for the grounds to be laid for the conduct of a free, fair, credible and transparent Election 2024.
The General Secretary, in his statement among others, demands a multi-stakeholder and inter-party engagements to address what the party said were vulnerabilities in the EC system.
But worthy of note is the assurance again by the EC Chairperson for a credible voters’ register that will help the people to exercise their franchise without let or hindrance on December 7, 2024.
Speaking at the IPAC meeting, Jean Mensa said all the discrepancies had been largely addressed, noting that the discrepancies were not targeted at disenfranchising voters in specific regions.
Fellow Ghanaians, at the end of the day, last Tuesday, the NDC’s agenda to “reset” the EC for its electoral gain could not fly. It has backfired, and they made the EC to go on a wild goose chase.