Fireworks as a demonstration of ‘No-Mahama-No-Peace’ shakes the Upper East region

Thursday, December 24, 2020 Policy

Source: Daily mail

2020-12-24

A large blanket of thick, dark-colored smoke from the bonfires hung over the roads of the Upper East Region with a sporadic display of fireworks as aggrieved supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a demonstration Wednesday over the results of declared presidential elections. by the Electoral Commission (CE).

Strong-looking police officers, acting under strict orders from their commanders, formed a human wall in front of the gates of the EC regional office block in the capital Bolgatanga to prevent protesters from entering the compound.

But the armed policemen involuntarily gave in and the iron gates were flung open as the “serious” NDC National First Vice President, Chief Awudu Sofo Azoka arrived, letting a strong ‘avalanche’ of NDC supporters behind him. and some other notable party leaders. The force that accompanied the flow of the ‘flood’ into the EC compound was so similar to the ‘stampede in the gorge’ in Don Hahn’s The Lion King that, unsurprisingly, one person was injured.

They came in anger to deliver a petition to the national president of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, through the regional director of the commission for the Upper East, William Obeng Adarkwa. The director was reported to be absent. The two-story white block seemed almost empty. A man, identified only as “Joe” and said to be a member of EC staff, received the petition, surrounded by men and women in red and black suits.

The presentation of the petition was the second affair of the day, as party supporters took a long walk along the busy roads of the capital in a loud protest that had burned tires at major intersections and a large collection of posters displayed on countless heads. The third and final activity, a rally in the sun, would take place about an hour later at Ramsey Stadium, formerly known as St. John’s Park, where the roadside protest march began in the morning hours. There, notable party figures would address their supporters in turn.

The three-page petition describes the outcome of recent polls and the post-election EC stance as a recipe for chaos and calls on local and international bodies to ensure justice is done.

“As a result of these unacceptable practices, the NDC bases in the Upper East region are using this platform to petition all well-meaning Ghanaians, eg members of the Peace Council, members of the State Council, agencies, rulers traditional civil society organizations and international organizations such as the EU, the AU, ECOWAS and the UN to pressure the Electoral Commission of Ghana to pay attention to democratic principles ensuring that justice is done through collation and declaration of the 2020 electoral results. It is a known fact that the EC in most cases set aside the electoral laws and did what was convenient for them ”, states the petition, signed by the NDC’s Upper East Regional Secretary , Donatus Akamugri.

About two hours earlier, two men who were reportedly members of Homeland Security had joined the demonstration disguised as NDC supporters. They were recognized even before the protest march started. Akamugri said the men were “thugs planted by the NPP (New Patriotic Party) at the NDC rally to deliberately cause violence during the rally and they will say the NDC is violent.” They were not saved. Some young men whipped them before they were allowed to leave.

“We will not swallow injustice so that peace may prevail” – NDC

NDC presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama had made it clear before the elections that his party would not accept the results of “a flawed election” after members of some opposition parties in Ghana repeatedly criticized the EC, particularly with the introduction of a new voter registration and the registration exercise itself.

The elections were eventually tainted with some notable anomalies which also caused European Union (EU) election observers to openly say that state resources were misused and collection less organized.

The NDC has also been highly critical of the National Peace Council (NPC) for keeping silent when concerns were raised about “flaws in the electoral processes” prior to the December 7 general elections, as well as has upset against some media. houses for prejudice and for calling some electoral results that turned out to be incorrect.

“We are very concerned that these opinion leaders, religious bodies, civil society organizations, are rather asking the NDC to allow peace to prevail. When an injustice is done against someone, you cannot even talk about the fact that they have been mistreated and, in fact, you must correct it to allow peace to prevail.

“You are saying that we must swallow injustice for peace to prevail. We say, as members of the NDC, that we are never prepared to trade justice for peace. If they don’t do us justice, they won’t achieve peace in this country, ”Akamugri told reporters at the entrance to the EC office minutes after the petition was delivered.

Later, at the Ramsey Stadium rally, a former Upper East Regional Minister Professor Ephraim Avea Nsoh told a determined and lively crowd that if the current democratic system were allowed to become so compromised as to bring Ghana back to “the gun”, the PNP, the government and the EC must be informed that the NDC – as the sole architect of the December 31 Uprising, the June 4 Revolution and the Fourth Democratic Republic – was ready and ahead of them .

The demonstration, in which even elderly women and some people with disabilities participated, not only recorded the unreserved discontent of the NDC in the petition filed against the EC over the anticipated results. It also revived the subdued spirits of umbrella party supporters in the Upper East region, a stronghold of the NDC.

The NDC is adamantly challenging the election results across the country with massive street protests against “fraud” while pushing for the election results sheets (colloquially also called pink sheets) to be audited after the EC stated that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP won the election with 6,594.875 votes (51.48%) and announced that John Dramani Mahama of the NDC won 6,130,698 votes (47.86%).