Counsel for the National Democratic Congress, in the ongoing Supreme Court petition challenging the declared outcome of the December 7th Presidential election, on Tuesday endorsed the case of the petitioners that the December Presidential elections were fraught with irregularities.

Tsatsu Tsikata did so by introducing new pink sheets outside the 11,138 pink sheets being challenged by the petitioners to prove that indeed there were irregularities in the elections, with his intention being to suggest that those irregularities also happened in the strongholds of the NPP.

This interesting turn of events, which occurred as Counsel for the 3rd Respondents continued his cross examination of the main witness of the petitioners, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, seems to have strengthened the case of the petitioners who have long held that the elections of December 7th were marred with widespread irregularities which affected the outcome of the elections and largely inured to the benefit of John Mahama.

It would be observed that since the commencement of the case all the respondents, the Electoral Commission, John Mahama and the NDC have maintained that the elections were not affected by irregularities whatsoever with John Mahama even stating during his State of the Nation address that the 2012 Elections was “by far the most credible, transparent, free and fair since 1992.”

The introduction of this new line of argument by the NDC and to an extent John Mahama, as the two submitted a joint affidavit, isolates the Electoral Commission, which would now become the only respondent still insisting that the elections were perfect.

Counsel for the NDC, Tsatsu Tsikata, who introduced the new pink sheets showing irregularities in the elections in other polling stations other than what the petitioners are challenging sought to suggest with those polling stations that the petitioners did not act in good faith and had been selective in choosing the polling stations affected by irregularities.

However, counsel for the petitioners Philip Addison quickly responded and pointed out to the Judges that indeed the question of acting in bad faith could not come in because the petitioners had long stated that they had analyzed only 24,000 pink sheets out of the 26,002 polling stations nationwide.

According to a source at the NPP headquarters, the bad faith can now be attributed to the NDC who by their action today have proved that indeed they were aware of the irregularities in the elections including over voting but they kept silent because their candidate John Mahama was declared winner by the Electoral Commission.

“The claim of the NDC could not also be true because as Dr. Bawumia stated in court on Tuesday, there are over a 1,000 polling stations being challenged out of the 11,138 polling stations where the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo actually won. Again per the analysis of the petitioners, they are asking the court to annul 1,388,239 votes from the total votes tally of Nana Akufo-Addo while the annulments would also mean that 2,910,103 votes would have to be annulled from the total votes tally of John Mahama,” the source added.

The source continued, “Per the new argument of the NDC however, it seems the party has now opened the way for a re-run of the elections which now might have become the safest route for the party after its failure to destroy the case of the petitioners after eleven days of cross examining the main witness of the petitioners, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.”

Instead of fighting over who should take the credit, this article seeks to focus on some useful lessons the outcome of the Kumbungu bye election offers to the various players in our political sphere. But who is listening or going to pay heed to them?

Take it or leave it, the outcome of the bye election was a verdict on the poor performance of the ruling NDC. As a believer in parliamentary election to be won on the merit of the candidate rather than the party on whose ticket he/she runs, I am not unaware of the fact that all bye elections under the Fourth Republic have always been a verdict on the performance of the incumbent Party. Considering the fact that the NDC has always held this seat, and less than a year before had won the seat with over eighteen thousand (18,000) votes, to trail the winner with about eleven thousand (11,000) votes under the circumstance of a lower voter turnout, speaks volumes of the lack of faith, confidence and any hope in the manner in which the NDC is governing the nation. Is the NDC listening?

Also within the NDC is the rumour of cracks which may have accompanied the departure of Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni whose departure created the bye-election. The confusion that has rocked the governing NDC as a result of a careless power play at the seat of government, shift of loyalties in the face the call for attention to the roles played in the beleaguered 2012 presidential election victory. At the root of all this confusion is the struggle over the ideological question within the NDC – whether it is a Rawlingsist Party or claiming association with Nkrumahism. Certainly, all is not well with and within the National Democratic Congress and it does not appear to have the capacity to deal with its confusion anytime soon.

The most important lessons may be for the CPP and PNC more than the NDC or NPP. Kumbungu has proved the sense in combining efforts if not coming together than going separate ways for the CPP and PNC. They are in reality one party split by the unfortunate circumstances of the unnecessary intervention of the PNDC/NDC and covert operation of the NDC never to see them unite through infiltration and sabotage. Atleast Kumbungu has shown the way, and I hope both parties would take the lesson seriously. Their unity of purpose there elevated the visibility of the Party and enhanced their reach within the space of the constituency. They covered more ground and captured lots of votes.

The remarkable fact of history also revealed by Kumbungu is that the CPP’s strongholds have all been taken over or are occupied by the NDC. Almost a half of the people in the NDC today would simply claim their roots to the CPP tradition than the CPP as a Party. Given the right messages and packaging, the CPP can win such persons who mostly were misled into accepting the NDC as part of the CPP tradition. Sound Strategy inbuilt with Tact is the sure way for the CPP in this particular lesson.

Amadu Moses Yahaya, was a sure candidate whose choice by the Party show what a credible and resonating candidate can do to soar up the fortunes of the Party and her Message. The Messenger must be as important as the Message itself. The CPP must begin to target candidates who, in their own right have offered and/or are offering something worthwhile among the locals. There must be a connection between the people and the candidate. A candidate who affects the lives of the people beyond politics is easy to sell among the electorate than someone who is yet to be known among the masses.

Kumbungu also teaches the need to ensure clean, clear, transparent and law abiding polls. The constitutional and statutory violations, malpractices and irregularities which characterised the December 2012 elections were absent in Kumbungu. Given a free and fair ground where manipulation of any kind is absent, all parties will score the true will and wish of the people. There are some seats that but for those attendant irregularities, malpractices and violations in 2012 would have gone the CPP’s way. Strict adherence of electoral laws and practices is therefore imperative!

The absence of the NPP in the election has something for both the CPP and NPP. Ghana traditionally has been divided between the Left Wing, CPP and Right Wing, NPP till the intrusion of the nauseating intermeddler, NDC in the Fourth Republic. There are seats which for the obvious reason of historical antecedents may never vote for the NPP or vote for the CPP. It is therefore easy for the CPP in this particular case to win such anti-NPP seats from the NDC than the NPP winning itself. Unlike the 1966 coup which benefitted the NPP tradition, the PNDC intrusion negatively affected both CPP and NPP traditions. The NPP may have had some other reason for not contesting Kumbungu, but in future there must be a conscious effort on the part of both parties to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement targeting constituencies with similar historical facts. The NPP must be reminded that, there is no way they can ever win all 275 seats in Parliament.

The NDC is the only party which really has neither a democratic tradition nor an ideological base that serves as its guiding principles. What many forget is that the NDC was never conceived as a political Party. It was the product of an unguarded governing machine forced by pressure from within and without to return the nation to a Democratic Republic.  It’s engulfed in so much internal confusion as to what should be the direction of the Party that its confusion is further compounded with the mistake of entrusting them with the responsibility of which direction to take the country. To sanitize the political space therefore is to restore the clarity of ideological paths; introduce a system of embracing the synthesis of two clear systems; and build best practices for sincere, patriotic dedicated men and women of love for country to make Ghana a better place for all to rise to the fullest of their potentials.

Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr

jbomfeh@gmail.com

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Vice-Presidential candidate for the 2012 elections who was led in evidence by lead counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison, took his time in breaking down the irregularities discovered on the face of the Pink Sheets which is the only official record of the conduct and outcome of the elections at the polling stations.

The evidence of Dr. Bawumia, who is the second petitioner, began by taking the court through the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results Form (Pink Sheets) and explaining its various sections and what they are meant to achieve.

He mentioned that the purpose of the various sections on the Pink Sheet was to ensure the credibility and integrity of the polls and that the sections of the Pink Sheet ideally should be internally consistent.

Touching on the irregularities discovered in the analysis of the Pink Sheets, Dr. Bawumia stated that there were six categories of constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices found. He named these as over-voting, voting without biometric verification, the absence of the signatures of presiding officers or their assistants on the Pink Sheets, the use of Duplicate serial numbers on the Pink Sheets, the use of same polling station codes for different polling station results and unknown polling stations where voting was conducted.

Over-voting

On over-voting, Dr. Bawumia identified the two forms of over-voting. The first form of over-voting, according to Dr Bawumia, was where the total votes in the ballot box exceeded the ballots issued to voters at a particular polling station while the second form was where the total votes in the ballot box exceeded the total number of registered voters at the particular polling station.

The Economist, who also headed the team set up by the NPP to look into the irregularities which affected the December 7 elections, informed the court that they had discovered a total of 1,826 polling stations where over-voting took place with total votes at those polling stations being 791,423. He asked the court to annul these votes because they had been tainted by over-voting which was a statutory and constitutional violation and which undermined the one man one vote principle underlying our democracy, bringing the integrity of the elections into doubt at those polling stations.

Dr. Bawumia also stated that on its own, should the court grant the petitioners request to annul the results from polling stations whose pink sheets were not signed by the Presiding officers or their deputies, John Mahama would be at 49.52% while Nana Akufo-Addo would be at 48.96% while annulling only polling stations affected by Duplicate serial numbers would mean that the results of the elections would be completely overturned with Nana Akufo-Addo securing 56.65% and John Mahama securing 41.96%.

The NPP Vice-Presidential candidate informed the court that indeed the Electoral commissioner prior to the December elections stated clearly that polling stations which were affected by over-voting and where voting without biometric verification took place would be annulled and that in fact the EC annulled certain polling stations because they were affected by the two irregularities.

On stating the information on annulments by the electoral commission due to over-voting and voting without biometric verification, counsel for the electoral commission, Quashie-Idun supported by the lawyers of John Mahama and the NDC, raised an objection and requested the court to strike out the statements which were also contained in the affidavit of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as it had not been pleaded in the petition of the plaintiffs. The Court after a 25 minute break dismissed the objection raised by the counsel to the EC.

No biometric verification
Rattling out numerous figures to establish the NPP’s case, Dr. Bawumia indicated that from the various Pink sheets analyzed, it had been discovered that voting without biometric verification occurred in 2,240 Polling stations. He informed the court that all the analysis proved that 535,723 Ghanaians in these 2,240 polling stations were allowed to vote without successfully going through biometric verification as was legally required. He mentioned that the total tainted votes in these polling stations amounted to 856,172 votes which the petitioners were praying the courts to annul.

No signatures of pink sheets
On the absence of the signatures of Presiding officers or their deputies from Pink sheets as is legally required to validate the results of the elections before declaration at the polling station level, the Vice-Presidential candidate revealed that they had discovered 1,739 polling stations which were affected by this particular constitutional and statutory violation and irregularity. He added that the total votes in these 1,739 polling stations affected by this irregularity came up to 705, 305 votes.

Duplicate pink sheets
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that the fourth irregularity identified on the Pink Sheets was the use of duplicate serial numbers on 9,921 polling station pink sheets. He told the court that the serial numbers on the pink sheets were like serial numbers on cheques, passports etc. which were meant to be a security feature and make it possible to uniquely identify each polling station. He noted that the serial number on the pink sheets was the only identification feature on the sheets which came already embossed and that the name and polling station codes which were the other identifiers were handwritten.

The NPP running mate said that the total votes from the 9,921 polling stations with duplicate serial numbers amounted to 3,924,844 votes.

Dr. Bawumia indicated from their analysis that it was very clear that the phenomenon of same serial numbers on different pink sheets was the vehicle for perpetrating the other constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices.

Churning out the various figures off the top of his head, he stated that 75% of polling stations where over voting took place were polling stations with duplicate serial number pink sheets. Similarly, he said that 77% of the polling stations where voting without biometric verification was recorded to have taken place were polling stations with duplicate serial numbers on their pink sheets. Again, he said that 75% of the polling stations which were not validated by their presiding officers or their deputies were also discovered to be polling stations with duplicate serial numbers while 85% of all polling stations where same polling station codes were used was also affected by the phenomenon of duplicate serial numbers.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that over 99% of all the polling stations where petitioners are seeking the courts to annul were affected by these four irregularities which make a material impact on the declared results.

Asked what his response was to the fact that NPP Polling agents signed the pink sheets, Dr. Bawumia stated that it was true that most of the pink sheets were signed by NPP Polling Agents but that the signatures of the agents could not validate the irregularities and illegalities.

“My Lords again, our polling agents by signing attested to the facts recorded on the pink sheets including the irregularities. They did not sign that the elections were free and fair, they signed attesting to it that indeed what is contained on the pink sheets is correct and did happen”, he added.

Again he maintained that holding the elections and counting the ballots in public as was done cannot validate the invalid votes which are tainted because of the irregularities identified.

After answering to various responses from the EC which claims the irregularities identified on the face of the pink sheets were errors and also that the final voter’s register figure of 14,158,890 used for declaring the elections on December 9th was an error, Dr. Bawumia said “it seems every irregularity and everything else is an error except the declaration”.

On whether double counting affected the analysis as had been claimed by the NDC and John Mahama, Dr. Bawumia took the court through an elaborate explanation on how double counting was avoided. He noted that because the irregularities occurred in multiples, the analysis had to identify 24 unique categories of the irregularities and their combinations to ensure that no polling station was counted twice.

Before Dr. Bawumia took the witness stand, the registrar for the court had informed the court that the petitioners had been served with 139 affidavits out of the 7,100 affidavits filed by the 1st and 3rd respondents.

Lead counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison noted that the affidavits they had received were very similar to the 320 joinder application affidavits received earlier in the course of the case with the same format and pleadings. The only differences in the affidavits according to Lawyer Addison was the names and polling stations.

Counsel for the petitioners latter in the day asked the court to take judicial notice of incidents in savelugu where officers of the Electoral commission admitted to getting unsigned pink sheets signed almost two months after elections.

Dr. Bawumia also spoke about the voters’ register used for the general elections. He stated that the EC had initially presented a voters’ register of 14,031,680 to the NPP as the final voters’ register. However, he noted that in declaring the results, the EC had used 14,158,890 as the voters’ register and also posted a voters’ register of 14,031,793 on its website as the final voters’ register. He said these inconsistencies in the voters’ register figures were compounded by the fact that an analysis of the voters’ register indicated on the face of the Pink Sheets in section ‘B1’ shows that the voters’ register operationalised on election day at the polling stations being challenged were about a million higher than the numbers in the voters’ register of 14,031,680 given to the political parties prior to the elections.

On the foreign voters’ register, the NPP Vice-Presidential candidate said that though the EC had indicated in its response to an interlocutory filed by the petitioners that it registered 241,524 abroad, it had only been able to provide a list of 705 and that an analysis of the 705 list had shown 51 multiple names to a total of 102 and fake identities which had the same identities – name, age, location, polling station assigned but different ID numbers. More worrying, he disclosed was that these multiple identities were placed far apart from ostensibly to make detection harder and that the ID numbers also had a unique pattern.

Dr. Bawumia informed the court that the EC had still failed to provide the 241,524 Ghanaians registered abroad.

In one of the last highlights for the day, Dr. Bawumia in responding to the ECs reliance on observer reports on the December elections, said that the observer reports were irrelevant to the matter before the court, a statement which was also affirmed by Justice Gbadegbe who said that whatever the observers said does not affect the issues the court is seeking to determine, which are whether they were irregularities and whether those irregularities if any, affected the outcome of the elections.

By Eugene Antwi

Justices at the Supreme Court will today sit for the second time on the petition brought before them by leaders of the opposition New Patriotic Party NPP.Its flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr Mahamadu Bawumia and chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey are challenging the outcome of the 2012 polls citing widespread irregularities during voting.

The court upon sitting on for the first time on Tuesday could not hear the substantive case because the petitioners refused to open their case, saying they had not been served affidavits by the respondents.The Electoral Commission, which is the second respondent, had at the time of sitting not filed its affidavits and those filed by the first and third respondents, President Mahama and the National Democratic Congress respectively,had also not been served the petitioners.

In court, counsels for the respondents impressed upon the petitioners to open their case irrespective of the fact that they had not been served the affidavits, saying the burden of proof lied on them.

But the petitioners refused and insisted the affidavits must be served them as agreed before they open their case. After recess, the judges agreed to adjourn the case to Wednesday to allow for the second respondent to file its own affidavits and for the affidavits by the first and third respondents to be served on the petitioners.

The EC filed its affidavits in compliance to the courts directive Tuesday evening, yet it is unclear whether the petitioners could be served before hearing today.

via Supreme Court resumes hearing of Election Petition today | Politics.

He spoke to the media shortly after the Supreme Court had adjourned proceedings to Wednesday.

The General Secretary noted he was happy “that the Court has now taken a decision to reverse their earlier decision [not] to allow television coverage”.

He however noted it was important to go beyond national coverage by local Television Stations to include an international audience.

“We are insisting that other television stations from outside Ghana; CNN Al-Jazeera and BBC to come on board so that proceedings can be telecast live for our citizens outside Ghana” he emphasised.

In reaction to a demonstration organised by some Ghanaians in the United Kingdom, he said “we take notice that some citizens of Ghana have been misled to embark on demonstration in Europe and America”.

The General Secretary believed that live telecast of the Supreme Court proceedings by international media will help correct misconceptions some Ghanaians outside the country hold.

via Asiedu Nketia calls for international media coverage of election petition case | Politics.

The affidavits were sent to the court by Mr Amadu Sulley, a deputy Chairman of the Commission Tuesday afternoon.

Attached to the 15-paragraph affidavit included seven exhibits.

The Supreme Court had early on in the day adjourned hearing of the substantive Election Petition case following the insistence by the petitioners to be served with copies of the respondents affidavits as earlier directed by the court.

Even though EC has filed its affidavits in compliance to the court’s directive it is yet unclear if the petitioners could be served before hearing on Wednesday.

It is the administrative function of the court to serve the various parties with relevant documents.

The Court will continue hearing tomorrow.

via EC files affidavits | Politics.

12^th April, 2013.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER

GHANA HIGH COMMISSION

13 BELGRAVE SQUARE

LONDON SW1X 8PS

Dear Sir,

GHANAIAN RESIDENTS IN THE UK PETITION FOR EXPEDITIOUS PROCESS ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CHALLENGE AT THE SUPREME COURT OF GHANA

Preamble:
We the Ghanaian community in United Kingdom are hereby petitioning your good office to bring to bear your influence on the relevant stakeholders in Ghana, especially the Supreme Court and the government, in relation to December 2012 election dispute petition under consideration at the Supreme Court. The petition has been subjected to numerous deliberate delays by the three respondents, the Electoral Commission, Mr John Dramani Mahama (President declared) and the NDC party, making our Superior Court of Judicature looks tottering and causing undue political tension in the country.

Although a date for the commencement of the substantive trail has now been set for 16th April 2013, the delays in court leading up to this latest stage gives us real cause for concern. It is our fear that the Supreme Court may further entertain deliberate delay tactics from all or any of the Respondents when the case commences in a cynical bid to deny the ultimate winner of the case, Nana Akufo Addo, his just deserts in a timely order. This fear is shared with our fellow party followers in Ghana. This situation, coupled with the current dire socio-economic conditions in Ghana where citizens are going without very basic necessities like water, gas and electricity, is causing unhealthy tension in the country. Consequently, we Ghanaians in the UK are becoming increasingly concerned about the possible direction of the country if nothing is done to arrest things.

The petition at the Supreme Court clearly suggests that fraudulent votes were added to advantage Mr John Dramani Mahama who was declared the winner by the Chairman of the Ghana Electoral Commission, despite the fact that the Commission’s attention was drawn to the fraud and other electoral malpractices that had taken place even before half of the results were declared, prompted by some political parties in Ghana.

It is a known fact that transfer of power in Africa has most often been of critical issue. Recently, several countries have imploded and descended into chaos and violence when their leaders refused to step down or accept electoral defeat; these include Ghana’s neighbour, the Ivory Coast, and other countries like Kenya, Egypt, Zimbabwe, and Libya. Some other countries have decidedly refused even to hold elections.

Electoral fraud is a subversion of our country’s constitution and every constitution for that matter, and often times lead to civil unrest where disaffected and cheated electorates take the law into their own hands, culminating into mayhem, destruction of property, bloodshed, and loss of lives.

The international community, generally, accepted Ghana’s 2012 Presidential elections as “free and fair” and Mr John Mahama, the declared winner, was duly sworn in on 7^th January 2013, without any violent protests despite reported rigging of the elections. However, the Leader of the biggest opposition party in Ghana the New Patriotic Party [NPP], under its presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, its vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, and Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, the Party’s National Chairman, have petitioned the Supreme Court of Ghana , challenging the presidential results (the first of its kind in the history of Ghana).

To back the stance of the Leading Opposition party’s leadership, and adding credibility to the petition, the leader of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom who came third in the Presidential elections, is on record to have said, “I have been involved in elections since 1992 and this is the worst in terms of credibility”.

The NPP also contends that on the evidence presented, its presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, will be declared the rightful winner of the presidential elections, if the Supreme Court is truly guided by the evidence alone and not under any undue influence from the declared president and his cronies. It is the submission of the Petitioners that upon a totality of the evidence presented, a significant number of votes should be annulled on the grounds that they were illegal and or invalid, and or tended to disproportionally favour the declared president. The petition is based on the following grounds:

ü  Over voting at some polling stations

ü  Voting without biometric verification

ü  Falsification of polling stations results by the Electoral Commission officials

ü  Using of duplicate sets of polling stations results declaration forms that have same serial numbers as the actual polling stations but different results declaration forms.

ü  Declaration forms not signed, as required by law, by the presiding officer or his/ her assistant

ü  Same polling station code but different sheets different results

ü  28 locations where voting took place not on the list 0f 26,002 polling stations officially created for the elections.

ü  Various combinations of above listed

ü  Unsubstantiated votes amounting to 241,000 purportedly representing Ghanaians registered abroad. Despite the Supreme Court’s order to justify this, the Electoral Commission has failed to do so.

PETITION TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

We, Ghanaians resident in the UK petition the International Community to support the work of the Supreme Court of Ghana by the following actions:

• Send representatives and observers to observe the process before the Supreme Court and encourage the demonstration of the independence of the judiciary and an expeditious resolution of the petition before it.
• Support the process that would bring about an outcome that produces justice and ultimately lasting peace and stability, not necessarily the status quo which may have weak foundation.
• Support the path taken by Opposition leaders, through use of your considerable diplomatic relations and leverage to impact government’s actions in leaving the judiciary unhampered. After all the resort to legal redress by these parties has ensured lasting peace for Ghana and ought to be encouraged.

PETITION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GHANA

We, Ghanaians in the UK, having observed the 2012 elections and the post-election evidence gathering and the court deliberations, hereby present petition to the Supreme Court of Ghana to consider and take the following into serious consideration:

• The Supreme Court must act with speed and urgency in this matter. As the saying goes – Justice delayed is Justice denied!
• The Supreme Court is an institution of relevance and august importance and should so assert itself
• The expectation of the Ghanaian people is that the Supreme Court will act in an honest and independent manner to apply the law to the facts and evidence before it without fear or favour in arriving a resolution to the petition presented
• Indeed the Supreme Court holds the keys to continued peace in the country and should so ensure by allowing its application of justice in this petition to be seen to have be done.

PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT AND PARTIES IN GHANA                               

We Ghanaians in the UK, petition the government in transition in Ghana:

• To cease and desist from all acts of intimidation, threats and violence against citizens of Ghana.
• To cease from unnecessary and unjustified delay tactics in the case before the Supreme Court.
• To ensure Ghana’s respectable reputation in the international community as a peaceful and democratic country is not jeopardised through the interference with the independence and smooth running of the Supreme Court.

PETITION TO GHANAIANS

We Ghanaians in the UK, ask the Ghanaian community:

• To exercise patience, care and caution as the legal process goes through its normal course before the Ghana Supreme Court.
• To be vigilant in order to protect and safeguard the budding democracy, rule of law and the Republic of Ghana.

Therefore, we Ghanaians here in the UK are seeking your indulgence to use your respectable offices to help save Ghana from tipping over into civil strife and systematic perpetual electoral fraud. It’s time to stop corruption with impunity and strongman rule in Africa; it’s time to stop vote manipulations, rigging of elections and backdoor dictatorship in Ghana and in Africa. Your significant economic and bilateral relations with Ghana can be leveraged to achieve this beneficial outcome and we respectfully ask you to act, expeditiously. Thank you.

Recipients

v No. 10 Downing Street, (Office of UK Prime Minister)

v Foreign and Commonwealth Office

v Dept. for International Development (DFID)

v House of Commons (Select Committee on Africa)

v Ghana High Commission – UK

v EU Representative in UK

v Media Houses

Signed on behalf of Ghanaian Residents in UK:

Email: concernedghanaiansuk.cogef@gmail.com

The protesters are also worried over the seeming delays in the presidential election petition at the Supreme Court.

On Friday, the group adorned in the colours of Ghana’s national flag, chanted and sang on the streets of London, demanding a speedy trial and an end to corruption in the country.

“Under normal circumstances it doesn’t take three months for interlocutories to be served…We know even within this week the number of delay tactics the number of delay tactics the respondents have been trying to apply.”

“…So we know there are going to be delays that is why we are tryign to streghten the hands of the Supreme Court,” one of the protesters told Citi News.

“We want the whole world to know what is going on in Ghana,” another said.

Others insisted the 2012 December elections were not credible.

The protesters were not the least discouraged by the early showers. They poured out in their hundreds to make their voices heard.

Many Africans may remember her with mixed feelings, considering her stance on apartheid South Africa, but, no doubt, the liberal economic paradigm that she and her contemporary, President Ronald Reagan of the United States, pushed in the 1980s, formed the ideological basis for the economic reforms that took place on our own continent, paving the way for freer, more competitive markets in Africa.

We cannot also write the history of the wind of democratic change that blew throughout the African continent in the 1990s, which was influenced by the collapse of world communism, without some notable reference to the key role that these two Western leaders played in bringing the Cold War to an end.

In the words of British Prime Minister David Cameron, Margaret Thatcher “took a country that was on its knees and made Britain stand tall again.” She eagerly pursued the aims of a property-owning democracy, helping more ordinary Britons to own their own homes and have shares in their nation’s wealth, thereby expanding significantly the UK middle-class within a generation.

I admired Baroness Thatcher because she was a patriotic leader of conviction, who did things not because they were necessarily popular, but because she believed they would be good for her country in the long run. It made her inevitably a highly controversial figure.

I draw inspiration from the fact that even though she was, arguably, among the most radical leaders of the 20th century, who had the courage to fight unpopular battles against established traditions that stood in the way of progress, she lived to become the longest serving leader of her country, winning three democratic elections in the process. She showed that a leader could take bold and far-reaching decisions and still succeed in competitive politics.

To her children, Mark and Carol, my condolences. To the Conservative Party, my sympathies. And, to the people of Britain, I join you in celebrating a woman who helped turn the world, even if she was not much for turning, herself. She will be forever remembered.

Accra, 12th April, 2013

Nana Akufo-Addo