I hope I got my Latin correct. The title for this essay comes from the Latin book I used while a student at Mfantsipim long time ago called LATIN FOR TODAY. Latin happened to be one of my weakest points so I dropped it at the earliest opportunity without suffering any sanctions being witnessed by some of our latter-day politicians from the Electoral Commission. Translated into English, “O me meserum” simply reads: “oh poor me”. The words were uttered by a chariot race enthusiast in ancient Rome who witnessed the loss of one wheel of the chariot he was backing to win the race after the chariot had led most of the time. As a result of the loss of the wheel, the chariot he was backing lost the race. Indeed his whole discomfort was fully summed up as follows: “O me miserum, lacrimae oclous meus imblebant, tacebam”, to wit “Oh poor me, tears filled my eyes, I was silent”.
The other day I was listening to the BBC and there was this story about an asteroid which struck the world about 66 million years ago. It weighed 25 kilogrammes and created a crater the width of 100 kilometres and depth of 30 kilometres at the present day Gulf of Mexico. The effect of the incident was so massive it wiped off completely from the surface of the earth the great dinosaurs of old which inhabited the earth.
When I heard of the disqualification of 12 presidential aspirants by the Electoral Commission, my mind went back to the two stories quoted above and the two of the presidential candidates, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom and Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. I told myself another asteroid had struck the Ghanaian political scene and I could only exclaim: oh poor me. Why Dr. Nduom and Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings? For very good reasons I was not worried about the rest. I gave little thought to and hardly bated an eye over the disqualification of Hassan Ayariga, Akua Donkor, Henry Lartey, and Ward-Brew. To plagiarize Elizabeth Ohene in an article she wrote at page 10 in the Daily Graphic on Wednesday, October 12, 2016, those four disqualified persons “quite frankly have no redeeming features; they are not funny and they sound and behave like they are for hire”.
Before Elizabeth Ohene’s article, many political observers have paid more attention to the fact that the four collectively provided comic relief to act as a tonic balm to the weary minds of the people of this country suffering from the corrupt, incompetent, greedy, tribalisitc and criminal John Dramani Mahama NDC administration than the feeling they felt in their bones that state resources were being wasted by NDC to finance the political rascality of that constituent, Group of political Jaguar Jokers. At least Akua Donkor has confessed openly to the fact that John Dramani Mahama was using state resources in financing her outright buffoon behavior while people close to the manufacturer of the famous political cough mixture have squeaked out the truth as to where his seemingly unlimited resources were coming from. No genuine political observer would want to sympathise with Dr. Edward Mahama’s political ambition which could be compared with the ambition of Don Quixote. For the other disqualified candidates nobody will miss them at the dinner table as they represent complete nuisance of a petulant mosquito buzzing around the ears of a sleeping giant.
But then why the public sympathy for Dr. Nduom and Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings over their disqualification. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the late great Nigeria politician died, among some of the tribute one of his worst enemies paid him was that Chief Awolowo was the best president Nigeria never had. I cannot commit myself to say that Dr. Nduom will turn out to be the best President Ghana shall never have, No! However, if you consider all the people who are gunning for the presidency in the present political dispensation, then I can stick my neck out and say that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Nduom stand tall over the rest of the field and indeed between the two of them, there is no other challenger. So how could the well-oiled political machinery of Dr. Nduom PPP fail to detect such obvious betrayal act which political enemies can easily conjure to derail the political ambition of a strategically placed candidate. According to one parliamentary candidate of the NPP, he and his constituency chairman personally signed the documents of Nana Akufo-Addo to avoid any sabotage. Why couldn’t Dr. Nduom deploy similar tactics?
When it comes to Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings, it is a different ball game entirely. She is a lady many people in this country either hate to love or love to hate. Indeed many people in this country believe that the massive excesses and atrocities and human rights abuses which occurred under her husband’s PNDC administration could be traced to her doorstep. Read the report of the murder of the three high court judges and the army officer and the telltale story of the keys to the vehicle used to convey the murdered victims. The sympathy for Mrs. Agyemang-Rawlings has nothing to do with any affection the greater majority of the people of this country has for her political ambition. However, that love-hate relationship which engendered the present sympathy for her disqualification goes back to the 2012 elections when people felt that she was unlawfully and wrongfully disqualified and that she was put to shame. So political observer felt this year provided the opportunity for Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings to pay back the Electoral Commission by proving her clean bill of health in order to show that her first disqualification was a fluke. Unfortunately, she appears to have committed the same mistake which caused her earlier disqualification and thus appearing to vindicate Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.
Whatever be the case, the disqualification of the 12 presidential aspirants raises massive political, legal, social, financial and historical issues which cannot be resolved in a hurry. To me, it proves the genuine nature of most of the grievances astute and independent minded political observers have against the current Electoral Commission as presently constituted. The basic underlying fact is the gross incompetence, the petulant arrogant posture, the failure to understand and appreciate the need for a change in leadership permeating the country, the illegal acts of commission and omission, and the obvious bias attitude in favour of the NDC so far exhibited by the leadership of the Electoral Commission prove a potent force of destruction for this country if unchecked. I have always stated that the Electoral Commission is behaving like the Piped Piper of Hamelin leading this country to a disastrous destruction while most constituted opinion leaders watched with foolish stupor like spectators at a boxing match where an opponent is battered to submission while the danger facing the suffering opponent does not register in their minds.
Where is the Peace Council which incidentally prides itself of consisting of many of the leading clergies in the country? Where is the House of Chiefs headed by a university professor? Where are the professional bodies consisting of educated persons on whom the tax payers money had been spent to educate them and which stood up and fought the creeping dictatorship of Kutu Acheampong of old? Why are the university intellectuals not talking like the good old days of Legon Observer era? Where are the trade union organisations? Have all of them soiled their hands by accepting bribes of US$100,000, a V8 Toyota Land Cruiser and a posh house at Trassacco Valley from the corrupt despots portraying themselves as leaders? Why has the fight been left to few civil societies who occasionally come out with some innocuous jabs crafted in meaningless diplomatic language and few audacious and patriotic persons like Kennedy Ohene Adjapong, the Assin Central MP, Lawyer Adomako Baafi, Boakye Agyarko all of the NPP and Charles Owusu of the PPP.
I know and believe that the seismic volcano which has been triggered by the disqualification of the 12 presidential aspirants is not going to end soon, at least judging by the legal arguments adduced by the legal team of Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings. As it was stated by James Ene Henshaw in his book, THIS IS OUR CHANCE, “A mighty wind shall blow”.
E-mail: makgyasi@ug.edu.gh
By Kwame Gyasi