2016 polls
Many issues have arisen out of the recent polls. One of them is Kofi Adams’ position that IT failed the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). But for that, by inference, the party would have managed – as they have always done – to remain in power. We are grateful for his contribution towards the cleaning of the filth from the electoral process in Ghana. We are the wiser now about what the NDC rigging machine sought to do until it was disabled by invisible hands. Until Kofi Adams comes to give better and clearer details about what he meant by “IT failed us,” our conclusion is that a certain manipulation of the system was started, but which failed to fly having suffered a certain technical failure. That is the story.
For those who have always thought that the NDC has unequalled expertise in manipulating election outcomes, they have been vindicated by Kofi Adams’ expose. They have an assortment of plans, should one fail them. Unfortunately, this time round, they were unable to replace the fractured plan. Indeed, the game was up.
President John Mahama was excessively confident; and it scared those who thought that because Ghanaians had had enough of the NDC they were therefore going to vote them out. Then came the victory cloth. There were also announcements about projects for next year and we wondered what informed the confidence.
President Mahama once said that he would not cook for another person to reap from the benefits of his toils – another suggestion that he was not leaving anytime soon. There is a saying among the Dagombas that when a visually impaired person says he is going to hurl a stone at you, it means he has a stone ready for the action.
The NDC gurus had done all that was needed for them to repeat the 2012 dosage of election rigging and the one before it.
Having witnessed a number of elections and a number of reforms over the years – all of them emanating from the NPP – we think that future elections would be devoid of rigging possibilities.
It is no longer a source of argument the fact that we have operated an over-bloated voter register over the years.
When we go into an election with a clean voter register and competitors know that the process is going to be bereft of rigging, the tension associated with elections would evaporate into thin air.
The feeling is good when we realize that all things being equal, by the time Ghanaians go for the next polls, sufficient arrangements to ensure that the will of Ghanaians would surpass the devilish plans of any individual or group of persons intent on rigging polls. We must be seen to be growing. Let those who seek to thwart Ghana’s socio-economic and political growth perish.
Perhaps by the time we inch towards the next elections, Kofi Adams would have explained to us whether his party was in a pact with somebody to alter the verdict of the people through the manipulation of a piece of IT equipment.