Kwami Alorvi Asks: Are the National Peace Council and the NDC Picking the Clear Signals for The 2024 Elections

INTRODUCTION

Election outcomes in Africa have been a major cause of civil strife. Mistrust in the actions and inactions of election governing bodies before, during, and after elections have been of major concern to many democracy watchers across the African continent.

Ghana has had its fair share of the injuries and killings of citizens during elections. The violence in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on 31st January 2019 and the eight avoidable deaths recorded in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana are still fresh in our minds.

It is as a result of these occurrences that I ask if the National Peace Council and the National Democratic Congress are picking the clear disturbing signals heralding the 2024 elections.

CONCERN FOR MY SAFETY

A friend saw the draft of this write-up and became alarmed for my safety because of the personalities and institutions mentioned. He advised that I shelved the piece. This fear has been with many friends and close family members concerning all my previous articles.

I am not oblivious to the fact that we live in a nation that those who see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture are never understood, let alone believed. For some citizens,  peace loving people must keep quiet so that the aggressors will not be offended.

My response to those who believe that we all must remain passive in our political environment has always been that, it is when our foes multiply that God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, and allow our cup to overflow. I have thus decided to draw the Nation’s  attention to these dangerous signals ahead of Ghana’s 67th Independence Anniversary celebrations on 6th March 2024.

THE DANGEROUS SIGNALS

Communication emanating from certain quarters within our governance structure seems to send out some worrying signals. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. a) H. E. The President

The father of the nation, His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, has given the clear signals on many occasions that he is not favourably disposed towards handing over power to the NDC, especially, under H. E. John Dramani Mahama. Is President Akufo Addo, or any other President clothed with the power or authority to determine who leads any political party in Ghana to elections, or whom he should hand over power to except the winner in elections? Why is he so afraid of John Dramani Mahama leading the NDC?

Should the National Peace Council (NPC), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Ghanaians take this statement by His Excellency the President as a joke or a serious threat to our democracy that needs to be addressed?

Thank God that the President sounded more as a statesman in his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) by departing from his previous moods of bellicose jingoism to assure the nation of a peaceful election and transition of power. May it be so.

1. b) Hon. Bryan Acheampong

The MP of the Abetifi Constituency and now Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Bryan Acheampong also said at a party programme held in Kwahu last year that it would never happen under his watch that NPP would hand over power to the NDC. Judging from the records that Hon. Bryan Acheampong accepted responsibility during the Commission of Enquiry into the Ayawaso West Wuogon violence, for the masked armed men that caused the mayhem in the by-election on 31st January 2019, does the NPC take his comment as a joke or as a serious threat to our democracy that needs to be dealt with?

1. c) The Electoral Commission

Ghana’s election management body has further stirred up the muddy waters with two dangerous signals.

First was the Commission’s indication that the Ghana Card was to be the only identity document to be used for the registration of new voters. Second was the proposal not to use indelible ink in the upcoming 2024 general elections. By a stroke of unusual luck of a bi-partisan opposition in parliament, these two proposals were dropped, at least for now.

However, what signal do these positions of the Electoral Commission send to the National Peace Council? If Mrs. Jean Mensa and the Electoral Commission can’t be a vaccine to save life (our democracy), they shouldn’t be a virus to terminate it.

1. d) The Minister for Defence

The MP for Bimbila and Minister for Defence, Hon. Dominic Nitiwul recently issued a threat to his colleague party parliamentary aspirant during the NPP’s internal parliamentary primaries and roped in the NDC. The Hon. Minister threatened his fellow aspirant that if he were a man he should step in the Bimbila Constituency to pick up his nomination form to contest him, so he (the Minister) would use him as an experiment or rather an example, of what he would do to the NDC in the 2024 elections. Did the NPC hear this?

His colleague aspirant, as a result of this threat, either opted out of the NPP parliamentary primaries or was disqualified by his party.

But, the NDC will not opt out or be disqualified from the 2024 elections. What has Hon. Dominic Nitiwul, in charge of the military, planned to do to the NDC in 2024? We have history to guide us. Election violence in Ghana has always been caused by men in military uniforms. Should the National Peace Council take this utterance by the Defence Minister as a meer joke or a serious threat that needs urgent attention?

1. e) DCOP Gabriel Prince Waabu and the Ghana Police Service

Joy News organised a preparedness for the 2024 election panel discussion on Monday 19th February 2024 to which the media house invited the Electoral Commission, the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party, and the Ghana Police Service, among others.

The Director of Research and Planning in the Police Service, DCOP Gabriel Prince Waabu, in a response to a question posed by Evans Mensah of Joy News, said election security in Ghana was the baby of the Ghana Police Service. He added that the Police Service, in collaboration with its sister security agencies of Immigration Service, Fire Service, and Prisons Service, would provide security during the 2024 elections.

This statement by DCOP Waabu is what we know in Ghana, that the military is only brought into elections to assist when the police are unable to contain a situation.

In a press release on the same day a few hours after the panel discussion however, signed by its Director of Public Affairs, Grace Akrofi-Ansah, Assistant Commissioner of Police, the Ghana Police Service disassociated itself from what their own kind said. The statement described the comment made by DCOP Waabu at the panel discussion on election security as “unfortunate” and “unfounded” and that it did not represent the position of the Ghana Police Service. The disclaimer also informed Ghanaians that “The conduct of the officer is being subjected to internal disciplinary process of the Ghana Police Service.”

Was the content of this letter really authored by the Ghana Police Service, or it was foisted on them by an external force? If the wording of the letter actually came from ACP Grace Akrofi-Ansah and approved by IGP Dr. Akuffo Dampare, then it is unfortunate. The question that remains to be answered is whether the NPP Government is again going to involve the military in the 2024 elections.

NATIONAL PEACE COUNCIL AND THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION MUST WAKE UP

Coming events, the adage says, cast their shadows. The harbinger of an inferno is a smoke. How is Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi and his governing board of the thirteen eminent persons of the National Peace Council seeing this thick cloud of smoke heralding the 2024 elections?

History does not repeat itself; ignorant people repeat the errors of history. The violence in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election in 2019 and the eight innocent lives lost in the 2020 elections must awaken the NPC and EC to be proactive. Silence encourages the tormentor, not the tormented.

The loud silence of the National Peace Council and other voices of conscience that used to be cacophonously vociferous in the past might bring Ghana to a state of armageddon; a dramatic and catastrophic conflict likely to destroy our democratic gains over the years

What the NPC and the EC have lost sight of is that, when a deity  becomes impotent, worshippers turn their backs to it. The nation is doomed if Ghanaians lose trust in the NPC as they have already done in the Electoral Commission.

In the quest for political power, the truth must not be the first thing to be left behind. It is an undisputed fact that those who hide the truth and resist a peaceful and evolutionary change provide a fertile ground for a revolutionary change. We have seen this in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Gabon.

The future of Ghana should be influenced by the hope of success in our democracy  and not the fear of chaos and failure drummed into our minds by haters of democracy. We must not be pushed by the fears in our minds by the actions and inactions of the NPC and the EC and the beating of war drums by political actors. We must be led by the dreams in our hearts.

From Ghana’s first cry at birth on 6th March 1957 till the final breath, God commands our destiny. That being so, I am confident that no entity; human, spiritual or extraterrestrial, or even all combined, can change the resolve of a people who are determined to rise. The will of the people will prevail on December 7, 2024.

For all presidential candidates in the upcoming 2024 elections, especially John Dramani Mahama (who has been the target of all these machinations), I have a piece of advice for you. As a sportsman, I know that in every track event, one can only overtake when one steps out of one’s lane. STEP OUT of your lane and put in the measures that will ensure that the vote of every Ghanaian counts in the 2024 elections.

May God’s abundant grace be your portion and that of all peace loving Ghanaians in the 2024 elections, and may our enemies lose their teeth so that by their smiles, we shall know them.

In conclusion, I ask again, the National Peace Council and the National Democratic Congress: Are you picking the dangerous signals clearly?

Dated: Sunday 3rd March 2024.