KONADU QUERIES VERDICT

Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings with Nana Akufo-Addo

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings former First Lady and wife of National Democratic Congress (NDC) founder, former President Jerry John Rawlings yesterday paid a surprise visit to the Nima residence of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo where she raised questions about the Supreme Court verdict on the election petition.

 “Are they now saying that after spending lots of monies on equipment for verification, it doesn't matter anymore? We can now vote without biometric verification”, Nana Konadu asked during her interaction with Nana Akufo-Addo.   

Mrs Rawlings accompanied by some national executives of her newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP) visited the December 2012 New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate to commend him highly for using the law courts to resolve the electoral dispute.

"The only thing I'd like to put before you as a lawyer and as a statesman is to explain things to Ghanaians because people are at a loss”, she stressed about the Supreme Court judgment about the election petition.

The former First Lady said her NDP party as well as many Ghanaians had been left confused by the judgement delivered by the nine-member panel.

The court last Thursday in a 6-3 but later revised to 5-4 albeit through the media, had held that President John Dramani Mahama was validly elected as declared by the Electoral Commission, Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan on Sunday, December 9, 2012.

To her, the judgement created the impression that the anomalies including over-voting, voting without verification, unsigned pink sheets of presiding officers did not matter adding “we are left confused.”

She appealed passionately to Nana Akufo-Addo and others to use their legal expertise to educate Ghanaians on the decision taken by the court since it would deepen the country’s democracy.

Mrs Rawlings commended the NPP highly for opting to go to court and not resort to violence saying “NPP is indeed a democratic party.”

“We are here as Ghanaians to let you know that we appreciate what you have done… Just listening to the media, going to court gives us a plus,” she said.

She said that Nana Akufo-Addo has “opened our eyes to issues” and her party was going to learn great lessons from what had happened so that they would be able to protect the sanctity of future elections.

She was also full of praise for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who was present at the meeting, for the way he was able to explain issues to the court when he testified as a star witness of the petitioners saying “we all saw you on television and you did a great job. At one point I said wow! How could you remember all these figures?”

H.F. Amoako, a former MP and a leading member of the NDP, introducing the delegation to Nana Akufo-Addo said that the petition had ‘exposed’ electoral manipulations and they were going to learn useful lessons.”

“The whole world has commended Nana Akufo-Addo for the way he carried himself and not brings chaos to the country. We are always with him and will offer him our support.”

Nana Akufo-Addo in a response acknowledged the contribution of the former First Lady to the development of the country saying “you played a significant role in Ghana.”

He said he had been at the forefront of the crusade for democracy and rule of law and would not let Ghana down.

“It is our duty to expose the decision for the people to know what actually transpired.”

He said the NPP will continue to go down the path of ‘democratic engagement’ and added that “we should continue to build consensus for Ghana to remain on.”

Nana Akufo-Addo is fortified by the fact that leading figures in our country recognized the merit in the actions taken by him and the NPP.

On her request to help explain the verdict, Nana Akufo-Addo said he considers it a duty to explain the decision of the court to the Ghanaian people, as it will help improve Ghana’s electoral system.

He said “people who are interested in Ghana’s welfare must meet more often to see what we can all do to help the Ghana project, and that is why I commend you highly for calling on me today.”