The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has asked former President John Dramani Mahama to present his so-called evidence of vote rigging in the 2020 general election to court and stop behaving “like a child crying over candies”.
“Nothing else justifies a claim to the Jubilee House. Unfortunately for John Dramani Mahama, only a court of competent jurisdiction has the authority to hand him the presidency in spite of his poor showing in the election. But he knows that courts don’t operate according to the whims of a presidential candidate behaving like a child crying over candies.
“Courts operate according to evidence. We know that John Dramani Mahama has become the butt of many jokes in Ghana today. But this new low that he has sunk sinks his image completely, whether as a human being or as John Dramani Mahama. His effusions further expose what is known of his credential as an incompetent person.
“In spite of the lessons that the NPP taught the NDC in 2016, the NDC did not have the presence of mind to set up a collation system. That is very poor indeed. But what is worse, is the recklessness with which John Dramani Mahama is conducting his political chess game”, NPP General Secretary Mr John Boadu pointed out at a news conference in Accra yesterday.
He said the Presidency is obtained by running in a presidential election conducted by the EC of Ghana and garnering 50% plus 1 of valid votes cast.
“You cannot endanger the security of our country on the altar of your selfish interest. You cannot be President at all costs. John Dramani Mahama is asking other people’s children to hit the streets for him to be candidate of his party in 2024 while his children are locked away in comfort and luxury in Dubai. That is most irresponsible to say the least,” Mr John Boadu told Mr Mahama.
Results declared
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) Mrs Jean Mensa declared President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the governing NPP the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
President Akufo-Addo obtained 6,730,413 of the valid votes cast, representing 51.30% while NDC’s Mahama got 6,213,182, representing 47.36%.
The results, Mr John Boadu pointed out, was corroborated and endorsed as free and fair by Coalition Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), the EU Mission, resolved by the media and accepted by CSOs and the international community.
“It cannot be the case that all these internationally reputable organisations are in cahoots with the EC to steal an election”, the NPP General Secretary maintained.
The votes difference between the president-elect and Mr Mahama is 517,231.
According to Mr John Boadu, the percentage points scored by the candidate of the NPP is one of the highest since 1996.
“So, the presidential election was not even close and therefore there was nothing contentious about it. In 2008, the late Prof. Mills became president with only 50.2% of valid votes cast.
“In 2012, John Dramani Mahama was president with 50.7% of valid votes cast. In fact, no NDC presidential candidate since Jerry Rawlings has hit the 51% mark in a presidential election.
“The 50.2% and the 50.7% that John Mills and John Mahama scored represented 40,586 and 325,863 votes difference between them and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. So, the nation is at a loss as to how a vote difference of 517,231 can be deemed contentious.
“There is absolutely no doubt in anybody’s mind, that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won the 2020 poll emphatically and without doubt. No amount of whining can change that”, Mr John Boadu pointed out.
Parliamentary results
On Monday, the EC published the number of parliamentary seats held by the NPP and the NDC and an independent candidate.
Currently, the NPP has 137 seats, NDC has 136 and an independent candidate has one seat.
Sene-West seat is the only one left to be declared, and Mr John Boadu said the NPP is confident of winning the seat.
Mahama’s old posture
It would be recalled that Mr Mahama had from the outset declared his intention to reject the result of the 2020 election.
He impugned the integrity of the EC since the beginning of the year and signaled his unwillingness to accept the results of the polls.
Mr John Boadu noted that Mr Mahama is just playing to a script, adding that “we know that the purpose of his effusions is to court the sympathy of the NDC to put him up again as their candidate in 2024. Well, it is entirely up to him.
“He said in 2016, that it is elementary politics and an old trick for people who know they are losing an election to seek to impugn the integrity of the EC”.
