NPP ATROCITIES

In the face of atrocities being committed by bloodthirsty NPP mobs against people perceived as NDC supporters, the National Peace Council is rather calling on security agencies to respect the human rights of the NPP hooligans who are threatening the lives and peace of mind of law-abiding citizens.

Mr Salisu Musa, Chairman of the NDC of the Bekwai Constituency

A statement signed last week by their Chairman, Most Reverend Prof. Emmanuel Asante, the National Peace Council cautioned against any action that may be perceived as “intimidation” against the hoodlums.

This statement has not gone down well with political watchers who are everyday hearing and reading about reports of not just intimidation of people perceived as NDC sympathizers but actual physical assault that has resulted in deaths and serious injuries. One observer, interviewed by The Insight, asked whether the victims of NPP atrocities have no human rights worthy of protecting.

Even before the elections, leading members of the NPP were calling for violence against people of Ga and Ewe extraction.

Last Thursday, reports coming from Kumasi (in the Ashanti Region) indicated that Northerners, Ewes and Gas were being chased out of their work places and homes in the Asante Regional capital, for “not voting properly” (meaning they are suspected not to have voted for the NPP). Even before the elections, persons associated with the NPP MP for Manhyia shot and wounded an NDC sympathizer.

Last week, NPP supporters who had gathered at Obra Spot, (near Nkrumah Circle) in Accra stabbed a passer-by near the Iran Clinic, believed to be an NDC supported. At the same time, they attacked journalists who had attempted to cover their riotous “All-Die-Be-Die” gathering.

Last Monday, NPP supporters attacked journalists of Joy FM in-front of the residence of their flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo.

On Thursday 13 December 2012, persons believed to be NPP supporters attacked one Mr. Salisu Musa, chairman of the NDC of the Bekwai constituency in the Ashanti Region with cutlasses, leaving him for dead. He is currently on admission at the Accident and Emergency Department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital following an attack on him by some unidentified assailants Thursday evening.

Again last week, a Taxi driver was murdered in La Bone, Accra. He was believed to have been stabbed by political opponents from the NPP.

In such an atmosphere of insecurity, one would think that the first advice anyone could give is to the leadership of the NPP to call their supporters to order.

No one has more human rights than the other. When one group is attacking the other, it is not appropriate to call for a ceasefire. The appropriate thing to do is to call on the belligerent side to put a stop to their aggression. To claim neutrality in such circumstances is tantamount to being an accomplice of the perpetrator.

EDITORIAL

President Must Beware

It has happened too often in the history of the NDC that those who defend the party, in the end, get sidelined while those who undermine it get recognized.

In the aftermath of the electoral victory of the NDC , people, who vowed to ensure that the NDC would be defeated in the 2012 elections, have suddenly metamorphosed into supporters and are adopting every underhand trick to get recognition.

Some of them are using newspapers to tout their names for ministerial positions, and then turn round to deny the very rumour that they themselves planted in the newspapers. There are also those who even heaped personal insults on President Mills, calling him “impotent” and “blind”; and saying that it would be useful for the NDC to go into opposition to enable them have a “proper revolution” in which they would weed out people they call “bastards” to pave way for Madam to lead. Then there were those who described President Mill's cabinet as “Team B”. All these people are now lobbying TV presenters to call them for exclusive interviews.

If somebody is going to bite President Mahama in the future, it will not be the “sharp-toothed toddlers” but those who have tried very hard to be the back-seat drivers and who would want to dictate to the President.

These control-freaks, who maligned the late President Mills as a strategy to take over the party, will do it again if they are given the chance. Currently, the “snakes” in the NDC, who failed to get the party into opposition have only be scourged, not killed. They will rebuild their broken teeth, and in the nick of time, strike with a vengeance if allowed anywhere close to power.

As ex-President Rawlings has said, “aboa bi beka wo a, na ofura wo ntoma”. This literally translates as, “if some animal is going to bite you, it would be wearing your cloth”. In other words your detractor would pretend to be one of you, come close and then strike at you. Bob Marley described them in his song, “Man to Man”.

Unfortunately, the tragedy of the NDC leadership is that they appear to pander to their enemies within, to the neglect of their genuine friends. A word to a wise, is enough.

BYE, BYE TO PATAPAA POLITICS …. HOPEFULLY.

                                      SCORE BOARD: NDC 4 NPP 2 

In the evening of Sunday, the 9^th 01 November 2012, Dr. Kwadwo Afari- Gyan, Ghana's Electoral Commissioner who, to his credit, has supervised all of Ghana's elections since 1992, announced the results of the December, 2012 presidential elections. 

Unlike the parliamentary elections, it is only the Electoral Commissioner who has the Constitutional mandate to call the results of Presidential elections in Ghana, the results of the 2004 elections which were fraudulently called in the Osu Castle Gardens by Jake Obetsebi Lamptey notwithstanding. 

E.C Chairman, Kwadwo Afari Gyan

It is interesting to note that what started fiercely as a race between 8 contestants was reduced to a two horse race, between the National Democratic Congress' John Dramani Mahama and the New Patriotic Party's Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo

John Dramani Mahama scored 50.70% of the total votes cast as against Nana Addo's 47.74%. The nation had waited with bated breath, hoping that with the declaration of the results, what could be described as the fiercest electoral contest in Ghana's history, had come to an end, but, NO. REASONS FOR WRITING THE STOLEN VERDICT CHAPTER TWO HAVE TO BE MANUFACTURED. 

Nana Addo and his clique have once again, denied Ghanaians the celebration of what the whole world minus them, see as free,
transparent, fair and credible elections conducted in an atmosphere which was free from fear. 

To cap it all, the desires of all the political parties that bio-metric verification of the identities of voters was adhered to with the provision of the verification machines, bringing to an end, the AGITATION FOR NO VERIFICATION, NO VOTE, NVNV.

Besides the mayhem being visited on perceived opponents of the New Patriotic Party including media establishments considered friendly to the party, they have threatened to head to the Supreme Court which is mandated to handle Presidential elections disputes.

Some of the ridiculous arguments being made by the NPP are that the results were reversed to favour John Mahama; the normal differences recorded at polling stations where voters may have preferences for a presidential candidate but not the parliamentary candidate of his party and vice-versa, or, what in Ghanaian election parlance is known as skirt and blouse, is also being contested, to the embarrassment of some members of the party, those results which even favour them are being mentioned to be contested. ALL THE LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS have given the THUMBS up in .their verdict of the election, BUT STILL.

The state of mind of the leadership of the party can be likened to A PUNCH DRUNK BOXER IN THE RING THROWII'\G PUNCHES AT EVERY BODY INCLUDING THE REFEREE AND THE BOXER'S OWN CORNERMEN. IN THE END, WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A WILD UPPER-CUT PUNCH THROWS HIM OUT OF THE RING TO BE COUNTED OUT. "NA WHO CAUSE AM?"

Nana again wins the majority of votes cast in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions and it is all ok because that is what it should be: but, when the opponent wins massively in the eight remaining regions, what is the verdict? NO! IT CANNOT BE. THEY CONCLUDE THAT VOTERS IN THOSE REGIONS VOTED ALONG TRIBAL LINES OR ETHNIC CONSIDERATIONS. OH ... NANA!

All things considered, the 2012 elections could be described as the most peaceful, most credible and most transparent of all elections in the country's history no matter what the very BAD LOSERS WHO ARE ALSO BAD Company have against the VERDICT AND OBVIOUS CHOICE OF THE ELECTORATE.

However, Dr. Kwadwo Afari -Gyan and his Electoral Commission should learn some useful lessons. !t does Not pay to be dismissive of every or all suggestions made towards the improvement of the electoral system, including those from people who we may consider not be endowed with ELECTORAL CLAIRVOYANCE.

It does appear as if Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan is exhausted and should consider bowing out even if he still has a couple of years more to stay in office before his retirement is due. Indeed, it should be a big surprise if Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan will stay on in office to supervise the 2016 elections. Ghanaians should consider honouring appropriately, one of the pillars who have nurtured our democracy to maturity.

What is wrong with the NPP? It appears members who constitute the leadership are too full of themselves that they have become unaware of the gulf that has developed between them and the ordinary Ghanaian electorate. It appears they spend their time massaging their over -bloated ego that makes them believe that they are the best; in everything, it must be them or no one else. 

What makes them think that they have the DIVINE RIGHT to be allowed to (mis)lead or (mis)rule Ghana? Which group of persons is this to, on countless number of occasions, allow its collective interest or interests to be held hostage by individuals' unrealistic and un- achievable dreams and desires to hold sway over the larger interests of the group as a whole?

Professor Adu Boahen

The case of Professor Adu- Boahen will forever remain a classic example of selfishness and myopias for leading the boycott of the 1992 parliamentary elections only because he had lost the opportunity to become president having been beaten earlier at the polls by Fit. Lt. J. J .Rawlings. The result was that the first parliament of the 4th republic was without a representation by the NPP as a party. 

Earlier on, this same group boycotted the Consultative Assembly which drafted the1992 Constitution. The reason, the make-up of the assembly was not INTELLECTUAL ENOUGH for them to associate with.

So, even though Nana Addo's style or leadership 2-nd campaign strategies were not the best and very often counter-productive, he was allowed full rein from 2000. Nana had 4 years to campaign for the 2012 elections. 

John Mahama had less than two months for effective campaigning even if he had not recovered from the trauma of supervising the funeral and burial of the late President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, the first sitting president to die while in office. Do not forget that John Mahama considered the late president as his father, mentor, friend and colleague.

In the interest of the NPP, they should quickly get over the attributes of VERY BAD LOSERS, engage themselves in serious INTROSPECTION and start re-strategizing for 2016.

To avoid a more humiliating defeat in 2016 more mature and sober minds like (John) Allen Kyeremateng and Dan Kwaku Botwe should be allowed to provide refined leadership.

Besides being generally perceived as being disrespectful, Nana also appears to be the most abrasive politician to lead a major political party in our time. TRUELLY, HE SHOULD GO ON RETIREMENT TO WRITE HIS MEMOIRS FOR THEY WILL BE INTERESTING TO READ. THEY COULD EVEN BE CONSIDERED AS POLITICAL SCIENCE TEXT BOOKS FOR THE TETIARY INSTITUTIONS WHICH HOPEFULLY, WOULD BE FREE. He should take with him, people like Sir John, they will be very useful to him.

Welcome to the office of President John Dramani Mahama. Mind you, you are no longer a CARE-TAKER PRESIDENT but, the SUBSTANTIVE PRESIDENT. You are no longer a SPARE-DRIVER BUT A LICENCE A DRIVER. You are also the first post independence citizen to assume the high office of President. Your accolades are many but interesting. The ones listed above are enough for now.

JDM, allow me to take the liberty to address you, for, the president is definitely not the only person who knows how to address people. If you find this enterprise PRESUMTUOUS, please forgive me.

·         Please consider breathing a fresh breath into your governance style.

·         Consider giving meaning to your intent of forming an all-inclusive government.

·         Do not hesitate to borrow good and workable ideas and policies from your colleagues in the race to the castle. Do not forget that in most cases, two heads are better than one; if you do, please be humble enough to acknowledge the source, in every event, the buck will stop with you.

·         Do not hesitate to hire and fire.

·         Allow the state institutions the latitude for them to do their work as prescribed without unnecessary interference.

·         Eschew arrogance which fortunately is not in your character and make up.

·         Ensure that impunity is chased out of governance.

·         No matter how difficult it may be, try and re-visit probity and accountability.

·         Remember to hold aloft, the bench marks that endeared your predecessor, the late Professor, John Evans Atta Mills to Ghanaians.

President John Dramani Mahama

JDM, majority of Ghanaians have a lot of goodwill towards you; do not disappoint or disrespect them, if you do, it will be at your own peril. Be humble enough to accept criticisms, where you have gone wrong, accept your mistake, apologize and move on for as a human being you could go wrong from time to time.

Congratulations to you Ghanaians. You have once again won the respect and admiration of the world in democratic governance; but, learn to give real meaning to the practice of democracy which should mean more than dropping ballot papers in ballot boxes every four years. In between, you should learn to rise up against actions and inactions of your elected representatives in parliament, rise up against machinations and schemes aimed at making the country ungovernable thereby retarding our progress towards becoming a full middle income country in the shortest possible time.

It is a big shame that some of the uncouth, uncivilized foul and loud mouthed members 01 parliament got themselves re-elected into the house. Sometimes, one wonders if the constituents of the goofing parliamentarians do not get embarrassed by their representatives who do damage to the name and reputation of their constituencies. How long should people allow material things to influence their choice of representatives civilized or uncivilized to the august house?

This time, let every Ghanaian resolve that they would no longer allow their honour to be soiled by those who should rather be bringing honour and recognition to them .. We should re-visit the era when we valued good name and reputation more than silver and gold; especially, in this era where sources of people's wealth are shrouded in 419 secrecy. Let us use our conscience to clean or sanitise the society by NAMING AND SHAMING wrong doers in our midst.

GHANA HAS NOT DIED AFTER THE 2012 Elections; SHE IS VERY MUCH ALIVE

NDC Old Guards slam Rawlings

By Kofi Asante Ennin

Jerry John Rawlings

NDC Old Guards Association in the Ashanti Region has objected to former President Rwalings’ call for a committee to investigate allegations of vote rigging in the just ended general elections.

The group affiliated to the ruling party says Mr. Rawlings’ suggestion to President Mahama is untenable because the opposition NPP had already decided to go to court on the matter.

Media reports have quoted the NDC founder as calling on the current President to set up an investigative committee to look into alleged malpractice in the presidential poll.

However, Chairman of the NDC Old Guards Association, Oheneba Asamoah Atuahene, told Nhyira FM such a move will make no difference.

He cited the NPP’s rejection of the 1992 presidential elections and subsequently boycotted parliamentary polls, but there was no investigation into the party’s allegation of rigging then.

Oheneba Atuahene also describes NPP’s intended court action as a “face saving move”.

He said the opposition party’s allegation of vote rigging at the various collation centres was an indictment on its own polling agents.

NPP on A wild goose Chase - Asiedu Nketia

Asiedu Nketia, NDC General Secretary

General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has no credible evidence to support their claim of rigging in the Presidential and parliamentary elections.

Addressing the party’s Northern Regional victory rally, Mr Asiedu Nketia said the NPP is only engaging in political gimmickry to satisfy its supporters.

The NPP has pooh-poohed the results of the Presidential elections declared by the Electoral Commission on Sunday. According to the NPP, thousands of votes belonging to the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo were wrongly added to that of President Mahama.

They have threatened to go to court to seek redress. Apart from the NPP and the PPP, all the other candidates have conceded defeat in the General Elections.

But Mr. Asiedu Nketia says the NPP’s legal threats are much ado about nothing.

“Their leadership had told them that there was no way they were going to lose the election. Now that they have lost the election, their leadership want to gain some credibility. So all that they need to do is to convince their people that they have actually not lost the election,” he said.

He said he was at the EC office when the NPP presented what they believed to be evidence but a thorough examination of the documents clearly showed that there was no basis for the accusations.

“They have never been able to submit any credible evidence of electoral malpractice and I can assure you that they will not be able to submit any evidence of malfeasance in this election because non-exists,” he said.

Israeli foreign minister indicted for fraud

Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman has been indicted on breach of trust and fraud, charges that trigger calls for his resignation ahead of the upcoming elections.

Avigdor Liberman

On Thursday, Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced the charges against Lieberman, who serves both as a member of the Israeli parliament and a minister.

The fraud and breach of trust charges focused on Lieberman’s efforts to promote an Israeli diplomat, who tipped off on police investigation related to the minister.

However, the attorney general dropped more serious charges, including money laundering and witness tampering, against Lieberman.

Following the indictment, a number of Israeli parties called for Lieberman’s resignation.

Shelly Yacimovich, the leader of the Labor party, called Lieberman an “extreme and corrupt individual,” saying he should immediately quit.

Zahava Gal-On, chairwoman of Meretz party, also stated that if Lieberman did not step down on his own, she would appeal to the Supreme Court to compel him to resign.

Lieberman has denied any wrong doing.

“According to my legal counsel, I do not have to resign,” he said, adding, “At the end of the day I will make a final decision together with my lawyers.”

Lieberman’s indictment could also throw his campaign into disarray ahead of Israel’s January 22 general elections, in which the right-wing coalition of Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is predicted to win.

Lieberman has faced several investigations since 1996 on a number of fraud and corruption allegations but has never been charged. 

US ignorance can cause Titanic damage

By Danny Schechter

2012 has been the l00th anniversary of the famous Titanic disaster. The Captain of that “unsinkable” ship was warned that there were icebergs ahead but he was too busy, out to set a speed record on the way to New York.

The warnings were ignored and we know what happened. What we don’t know is why other urgent warnings go unheeded.

Take the predictions of a storm surge tied to climate change threatening New York City’s coastline. They were acknowledged but downplayed because right-wingers and their think tanks spent a decade in bogus quibbling about the science.

Now the city is facing a billion dollar clean up bill, and even the small army of the biggest names in rock and roll who did a benefit for storm victims did not challenge the denial factor in government and the media.

And now, as the fourth quarter of economic activity tapers down for the holidays, and companies close for the New Year, forecasters avoid making dire predictions for fear of being seen as alarmists or “doom and gloomers.”

Many seem to fear that if they say things will get worse, the very act of saying it may make it happen,

But that hasn’t stopped Paul Craig Roberts an Assistant Treasury Secretary in the Reagan Administration from warning on USA Watchdog.com:

“America is going to crash big time… The real problem is not the fiscal cliff.”

The dollar is on very thin ice.

Dr. Roberts thinks there is “an impending collapse of the exchange value,” and the U.S. dollar could unexpectedly plunge in buying power. Dr. Roberts contends, “All of a sudden, people walk into Walmart, as usual, and they think they’ve walked into Neiman Marcus.” Dr. Roberts says there are no quick fixes to the bulging debt because “there’s no way to close this deficit when corporations are moving the tax base off-shore.”

Note his allusion to shopping reflects the fact that 70% of the economy is based on consumerism. A bullish Christmas Shopping season is supposed to make up for a whole year of dramatic ups and downs

It starts on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday with heavy sales and deep discounts called “Black Friday.”

And this year shopping marathon seemed off to a good start. The crowds grew and initial reports said that sales were up. But, as the press reported that the big day was driven by aggressive discounts and earlier than ever shopping hours.

The Washington Post later reported that “Black Friday is a bunch of meaningless hype because strong sales results around Black Friday actually predict slightly weaker holiday sales overall.”

The National Research Federation’s estimates for Black Friday spending are not believable either because they are based on a consumer survey , with their accuracy open to question.

“Even a legitimate boost in sales can indicate variously that consumers are feeling flush, or that they’re desperately chasing door busters because money is tight. While the U.S. Commerce Department doesn’t break out Black Friday sales, its figures suggest that the final tally for holiday spending isn’t likely to be as stratospheric as the trade group’s weekend numbers suggest.”

In fact, every year the initial reports show a boom, but later filings reveal a fall-off. In January next year, stores are likely to be flooded with returns by shoppers who realize they can’t afford all their goodies and suggesting it is not the economic miracle it is always cracked up to be.
Meanwhile there are other economic indicators that show there may be more pain than gain, as these headlines attest:
• Home Seizures are rising as the flow of foreclosures pick up

• A delay of Bank of America return to selling mortgage securities shows the bust is limiting the market’s revival

•The Federal Reserve Bank is twisting up its “Operation Twist” and pumping more money-money they print-into, reports ML-implode.com, “buying $45 billion of longer-term Treasury bonds per month in addition to the $40 billion per month of agency mortgage backed securities announced in September. By dropping the sales component of operation twist, it means that the entire $85 billion of asset purchases will add to the Fed's balance sheet as none of it will be sterilized.''

None of these issues are discussed in any detail in our media. The focus since the election has been on a contrived distortion-the so-called “Fiscal cliff.”

Writes Paul Street, “The fiscal fixation is childish and irresponsible in a country plagued by mass unemployment, endemic job insecurity, and related widespread poverty

But that’s not all that gets lost in the current mass-mediated deficit mania. Let’s assume that “the deficit” is a genuine problem with grave long-term implications for the U.S. economy (i.e., crippling interest payments, loss of national sovereignty, and more). Two obvious solutions are to (1) cut U.S. “defense” ...expenditures and (2) initiate serious health care reforms on the model of the health insurance systems that prevail in other industrial powers.”

None of that is likely to happen as tax policy gets all the attention, It looks like Republicans now will compromise on their opposition to increasing taxes on the ultra rich in exchange for more cuts in social programs-the so-called “entitlements.”

The rich can afford to pay a bit more although they will probably find more loopholes to keep actual payments down, but people dependent on federal assistance will be hit hard.

The net result of all of this unlikely to be more economic fairness. A deal between the White House and the Republican dominated Congress will be reached, but its not one that will please progressives.

The “Fiscal Cliff” may then disappear as an issue but icebergs of economic volatility are still rushing our way.