On April 8, 2023, Bryan Acheampong of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) declared that his party will never hand-over power after the 2024 election and that his party will employ every means necessary to hold on to power. This “we will never hand over power” declaration has become a refrain on the lips of NPP leaders. For instance, Lord Commey and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, among others, have all made similar declarations at different times.
When these declarations are related to how Bryan Acheampong deployed armed thugs to shoot and beat people to aid the New Patriotic Party in winning the 2019 Ayawaso West Wougon by-election, how the New Patriotic Party benefited from voter suppression schemes in opposition strongholds spearheaded by the military during the 2020 Voter Registration exercise, and how military men were used to shoot and kill 8 unarmed sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress to help the New Patriotic Party win the 2020 General Election and how the Electoral Commission Chairperson kept changing already declared results, then one gets a fair idea of the “end justify the means” measures the New Patriotic Party is putting in place to win the 2024 election. This is the reason why they know ahead of time that they will not be handing over after the 2024 Election.
It is evident, then, that the New Patriotic Party is engineering an unfair electoral process to ensure that in the event that the majority of Ghanaians vote against them, their manipulation of the process will serve as a necessary backup to overturn the verdict in their favour. The New Patriotic Party is in cahoots with Ghana’s Electoral Commission to fraudulently emerge as winners of the 2020 Election, contrary to the provisions in Ghana’s Electoral Laws, which mandate the Electoral Commission to create an even playing field for all contestants and declare the candidate who the majority of Ghanaians vote for as the winner. Coming out in this foolhardy manner to declare ahead of time that they will never hand over power indicates that they are certain that the measures they are putting in place will guarantee them victory. This is why they are boldly declaring themselves winners ahead of time and insisting that they will not be handing over power even before the election is conducted. It is also the reason why they are defiantly defending the “we will never hand over power” statement in the face of widespread public condemnation.
In relation to Bryan Acheampong’s declaration that the New Patriotic Party will never hand over power, the New Patriotic Party is insisting that there is nothing wrong with Bryan’s statement. But the same New Patriotic Party is demanding that Mahama and co should be arrested for utterances they claim are similar to what Bryan said. These two positions are contradictory and amount to approbating and reprobating. Only people who are fixated on winning elections through undemocratic means would reason that a “we will never hand over power” declaration is acceptable in a democracy. Only people who are implementing the “end justifies the means” strategy for winning an election would whitewash the “we will never hand over power” statement on the grounds that it was stated in a certain context. There is no context that justifies a “we will never hand over power” declaration in any democracy, particularly when 8 unarmed sympathisers of the NDC were murdered in the 2020 Election to guarantee NPP advantage, and when an NPP President has, against sound advice, appointed known NPP activists to referee the 2024 election
After collapsing Ghana’s economy through reckless borrowing and bastardizing state institutions such as the Electoral Commission and Judiciary by packing them with known New Patriotic Party activists, the New Patriotic Party’s threat that they will never hand over power must awaken a resolve in all Ghanaians, like myself, who do not support them to stand up against them. We must prevent them from skewing the electoral process in their favor and be ready to take on armed thugs or military personnel whom they may rely on to cheat in the 2024 election. We have to be outraged by the undemocratic tactics that the NPP consistently schemes to perpetuate themselves in power, and we must vow to stop them.
If you strongly believe that Ghana needs a change in government from NPP to NDC, as former UT Boss Prince Kofi Amoabeng recently stated, then the NPP’s threat that they will never hand over power should motivate you to join forces with like-minded Ghanaians to take the necessary actions to prevent the New Patriotic Party from imposing themselves on us.
The battle line is drawn!
PAPA KWASI AKWETEY
CONVENER, NATIONALISTS MOVEMENT
+233(0)595519155