Jean Mensa & John Mahama
There is no doubt that Ghanaians are very proud of themselves as people who hail from a noble country and would therefore not want any group of non-Ghanaians to sneak into the country and vote alongside Ghanaians in national elections.
Elections help to decide on the preferences of people as far as the management of a country is concerned. If the election is entrusted to the hands of leaders who are not competent enough to meet the challenges of the times, it will be difficult to make progress as far as socioeconomic development is concerned. This explains why it is wrong to allow non-Ghanaians to take advantage of the voting system to decide on the future of the country.
If things go well, the world will praise Ghanaians as hardworking people, but if the country fails in its socioeconomic development, Ghanaians will be seen by the world as disappointing and as a group of people incapable of managing their own affairs.
At independence, the first national leader made it clear that Ghanaians were now prepared to manage their own affairs. If Ghanaians are prepared to manage their own affairs, then they ought to be allowed to do so in an honest and peaceful manner.
In light of all this, is anyone justified in the vilification of Mrs. Jean Mensa?
When Mr. John Mahama and his team went to court to challenge the results of the 2020 election, they insisted that the EC Chair be brought into the witness box to answer certain questions. The Supreme Court judges, however, felt that this was unnecessary because the NDC had not been able to justify its position. Even non-lawyers who followed the case realised that the NDC itself did not have any evidence to prove its case.
They had decided to go to court as a way of calming down their agitated supporters. Against this background, the party should be very careful about how it conducts itself in all future elections. The use of force and the absence of respect for opponents during elections would not help matters in any way.
What Ghanaians are prepared to hear are programmes that would transform their lives and attain higher levels of socioeconomic development? All parties must therefore take this advice and behave well during elections.
Again, quite recently, Dr. Bossman Asare and some EC officials went to parliament in response to a request by the legislative body for an interaction with them. On arrival, the parliamentarians asked them to go back, explaining that it was Madam Jean Mensa herself that they wanted to meet. All this was about the intended CI, which seeks to make the Ghana Card the only form of identification for voter registration.
As has been pointed out already, voter registration will not be a general one but rather a limited form of registration. This limited registration will give an opportunity to those who have just attained the age of 18 and want to register as voters. In the light of all this, it is clear that the EC means well and should be supported by all Ghanaians. If any group of people means well, they will quickly have to revise their notes to ensure that they have good intentions but not to be antagonistic and force their will on the country, whether right or wrong.
As has been pointed out already, the NDC should go back to the IPAC and take part in every deliberation so that they can make very strong arguments against things they do not support. In doing that, they must be well informed that they are doing so with the other political parties in the interest of the country. The use of intimidation in the form of “akakabensem”, “atuotuosem”, “bugabuga”, etc, will not work in this country.
Let us decide to do what is right for the country. Ghana is the only country for Ghanaians, so let us work hard and do well to preserve its dignity.
We must establish our country as a unique nation that is moving towards rapid socioeconomic development to enhance the welfare of the people. No one will come to Ghana to do this for us, so the earlier we put our heads together to do this for ourselves for the progress of the country, the better it would be.
It is programmes of development that are needed to convince people to vote in a certain way. This means that Ghanaians must feel free to make their choices based on alternative programmes that are presented to them. These programmes of development must be credible and acceptable to the people. If this is the case, then a major challenge facing political parties is the design of good products that will influence people to move to a certain area as far as voting is concerned.
There may be serious economic challenges today, but these can be well embraced by people who understand the issue at hand and will be prepared to support a government even in the face of certain challenges.
Let us come together as a people to streamline our behaviour and let the rest of the world know that we have come of age and are prepared to conduct ourselves in a mature way without unleashing needless attacks on people who have the responsibility to handle the election management body in the country.
Email address/whatsApp number of author:
Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)
BY DR. KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO