A NEWS report that the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has threatened that “the country will burn to ashes should the ruling party retain power in next year’s election” is, indeed, saddening.
Mr Daniel Ohene- Agyekum was reported to have made that unfortunate remark at an NDC rally in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region.
As should be expected, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has, in a reaction to the NDC regional chairman’s threat, called on Mr Ohene-Agyekum “to retract it and apologise to the good people of Ghana for instigating and wishing violence and mayhem to befall Ghana”.
If, indeed, Mr Ohene-Agyekum did make the statement attributed to him in Obuasi, then we at the Daily Graphic do condemn it in no uncertain terms, coming especially at this point in the history of the nation when it is touted world-wide as the torch bearer in good governance, peace and tranquillity.
Should we believe that this statement substantiates the widespread perception held among elements within the NDC that the NPP cannot win the 2008 election unless it rigs it? Does this perception also flow from the belief that the NPP rigged the 2004 election and that it was that party which declared the results of that election?
Indeed, the NDC has never spared a moment to drum home this latter belief and we feel it has got to a point when it has become a cliché.
In 2004, what the NPP did was, as is done by media houses, political parties, interest groups, etc., in all democratic states, to call the election after it had collated the results from almost all the constituencies and seen that it had an unassailable lead.
Indeed, we do recall that the Electoral Commission (EC) itself declared the results when results from three constituencies were yet to be declared. What it said then was that even if all the ballots cast in the remaining three constituencies were for the NDC, the NPP would still have 50 per cent plus one of the total ballot and so it had won the election.
If Mr Ohene-Agyekum premised his unfortunate statement on the assumption that the NPP will rig the upcoming elections, we say he has no basis for that assumption.
We were all witnesses of elections in the country from 1992 up to the last one in 2004 and we can say, without any fear of contradiction, that the 2008 election can only get better.
We say this because we have moved away from the era of non-transparent ballot boxes, the use of voters’ registers which did not have pictures of voters, open intimidation of voters and other rough tactics that were used back in time to gain advantage over other contesting political parties.
Now we believe that whatever factors go to make an election free and fair are noticeable in our circumstances and so we don’t think anybody has any business calling for fire and brimstone on the country because of a perception.
A research document, the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, notes that “free and fair elections are elections where fundamental human rights and freedoms are respected and the playing field of electoral competition is reasonably level and accessible to all parties and candidates. In particular, a free and fair electoral process guarantees freedom to organise political parties and to register as a voter or as a candidate. It guarantees freedom of speech and expression by all candidates, parties, voters, and the media, and freedom of assembly to hold political rallies and campaigns....”
We have quoted from this document to prove that the environment we have now can only engender free elections and that if Ghana did not burn in 1992, it surely cannot burn in 2009.
Given Mr Ohene-Agyekum’s stature in politics and the fact that his utterances carry a lot of weight, he must be very careful that he does not incite people into needless mayhem.
It is true that Ghana faces a number of challenges in the economic, social, educational and other sectors, but with the strides being made under this democratic dispensation, we will surely make it.
Let nobody who is bent on securing political power spell doom for this dear country of ours because the people are politically mature enough to discern what is good.
Ghana will not burn at Ohene-Agyekum’s instigation!
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