It was a quiet afternoon during classes. He looked in her direction; she was a very beautiful girl, perhaps the most beautiful in class. Unlike most of the female students, she never succumbed to the amorous advances of her male colleagues, even though she did socialise with them.
He tore out a piece of paper from his exercise book and scribbled something on it. He then folded the paper into a small ball and threw it at her. It landed on her face, and she turned towards the direction of the flight of the paper. She saw him smiling, and without any second’s thought she picked the paper and returned the gesture with a more than equal reaction. Unfortunately the class teacher turned and saw her in the act of throwing something at a colleague.
She was invited to the front of the class and her male colleague was asked to do same with the crumbled paper in hand.
When it was opened, the inscription shouted out loud and clear: “I LOVE YOU!”
She was charged with the offense of soliciting love from a colleague, which was against the school rules. Despite her denials and explanations she found herself in the Headmaster’s office in total hopelessness as she was pronounced guilty as charged, and her punishment was spelt out to her. She was very lucky to have escaped external suspension; her punishment was to skip two days of classes and weed a wide tract of land. Her male colleague who committed the act called “throw me paper”was free, even though he was the guilty one.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has vowed to use all in its power to halt the compilation of a new voters’ register by the current Electoral Commissioner (EC), Mrs Jean Mensa. With threats of kidnapping, social unrest, murders, and lately civil war, which was endorsed by the party, not turning the majority of Ghanaians to line up behind the largest opposition party, a clever trick has been hatched and implemented.
All this while the NDC has taken the EC to court over its decision to compile a new voters’ register; seeking a “declaration upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 45(a) of the 1992 Constitution, and a determination that the EC has the Constitutional power to compile a voters’ register only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law.”
According to the NDC, the EC can only revise the existing register of voters, since it lacks the power to compile a new voters’ register for the conduct of the December 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Dear Reader, this opinion of mine is not about what the NDC wants or should get from the court, but about why the NDC, after going to court, decided to do to the EC “a throw me paper.
The largest opposition party in Ghana, while in court with the hope of getting the law to stop the EC from compiling any new voters’ register, had, on May 18, 2020, secretly written to the Commission to give it copies of the training manual and all other documents and forms for the registration officials and political party agents ahead of the planned exercise of the compilation of new voters’ register. This humble request was signed by the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah.
The arithmetic simply is not adding up here, because exactly two months from March 19, 2020 to be precise, after lodging a case against the EC in court, with the hope of stopping the Commission from compiling a new voters’ register, here we have the NDC humbly requesting the same EC to give it (NDC) manuals, documents and forms relating to the training of EC officials and political party agents for the compilation of the new register.
The response of the EC to this request may be made publicly in court, but one can only speculate on what formed the mind of the NDC to write to the EC, and beg for such materials, as if they were available. Could it be a trap?
The speculation on what initiated this request may be, because the NDC has given up the fight and hoping to be ahead of other political parties in acquiring these materials and begin training its agents.
If this is the reason, then it is good news that at long last, the NDC is saying that compilation of new voters’ register do not help to rig elections after all. And that compilation of new voters’ register cannot in any way disenfranchise eligible voters. And also that it has accepted that Ghana needs to upgrade its electoral system and have a cleaner voters’ register which will have only eligible voters listed.
On the other hand, is the NDC actually determining to “throw me paper” at the Electoral Commission? Let there be evidence, even if false, that even though a case is in court, the EC had gone ahead to make preparations to compile a new voters’ register, damn the consequences. Can this be a strong indication of contempt of court? If it is, what will the fate of the EC be?
On a stronger note, it can also be said that the NDC has realised it is playing a losing game, and was in fact very wrong from day one, but just want to find a way of withdrawing this case without first apologising to all Ghanaians for the wrong stance it took on the issue of a new voters’ register, as the completely great difference between the two approaches sought to reveal. The first is to point out to the EC that by law it is never to compile a voters’ register, and the second is to agree that it can do so.
What is the NDC hiding from us again? Why is the NDC doing “throw me paper” at the EC and make it look the guilty one, whereas it is not the case?
But why at all did the NDC choose to go to court, when it knew all along that one of the options it could use to achieve its aim is to throw this country into civil war?
Author: Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s editorial stance
The post EC v NDC: NDC “Throw Me Paper.” appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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