By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
January 11, 2018
Former President John Dramani Mahama has made a sensational claim
that there was an incidence of over-voting in the 2016 elections, but his party
- the National Democratic Congress (NDC) - decided to let it go.
“I could have gone round to gather all kinds of examples of
over-voting and go to court but I don’t think that was good. The NDC is playing
the game democratically. The NPP are the ones that often will never accept the
verdict of the people when they have lost the election,” he told Ghana
Television (GTV) in an interview on Tuesday.
Vital Statistics
Current President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo - then candidate of
the New Patriotic Party (NPP) - made history last year when against all odds,
he defeated incumbent Mahama with a margin of over one million votes after a
keenly contested general elections on December 7, 2016.
While then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo’s votes appreciated
significantly, the National Democratic Congress’ John Mahama’s dropped
woefully.
The then opposition candidate (Nana Akufo-Addo) polled 5,716,026,
which translated into 53.85% and Mr. Mahama garnered 4,713,277, representing
44.40% - dashing Mr. Mahama’s second term hope.
Sour Losers
Speaking on GTV to mark the 25th anniversary of Ghana’s
uninterrupted democratic rule, Mr Mahama, who appears to be sulking over his
embarrassing defeat, accused the NPP of being sour losers and said they had
always rejected national election results when the verdict did not favour them.
“Our party has always accepted the verdict when we lost. It is our
opponents who don’t,” he said, and went ahead to show what he said were
instances of the NPP being sour losers.
“In 1992, they described the election as the ‘Stolen Verdict.’ In
1996 they described it as the ‘Bought Verdict.’ When they won in 2000, we
readily gave power to them,” former President Mahama indicated.
He said, “In 2004, Prof Mills conceded,” but when he was reminded
that the NDC went to court in 2004 to challenge the President-Elect Instrument,
Mr. Mahama said, “Two members of our party decided to go to court. President
Mills conceded and congratulated President Kufuor so there was no doubt about
that.”
According to the former president, “2012 was the worse one,”
adding, “The NPP went to court and we went on for almost one year. We wasted
the whole time of the government because we were not sure the legitimate
government was going to move out of office. The international community decided
to wait and see and so it actually truncated the amount of time that we had but
we did our best in three years plus and we were able to deliver some of the
things we promised the nation.”
He said when he lost in 2016, he “conceded and congratulated
them.”
Former Presidents
Mr. Mahama said he has good relations with the incumbent
president, as well as all his colleague former presidents.
He noted, “The president is a very busy person so you can’t be in
touch with him on a day-to-day basis,” adding, “With respect to President
Kufuor, we speak and my relationship with him has been cordial. Anytime we
speak we are very cordial.”
Rawlings’ Cold Reception
Mr. Mahama said he also has good relations with former President
Rawlings - founder of his party - and claimed, “Recently there have been some
speculations in the media and all that but we should understand the kind of a
person President Rawlings is.
“Sometimes he is in a mood where he doesn’t want to engage in any
conversation. Recently at the thanksgiving they were giving all kinds of
interpretations to the handshake we had. There are occasions when he comes he
greets the military style and on some other occasions, it is cordial. I met him
in Kpando and we were very cordial; we exchanged pleasantries. Sometimes you
sit next to him and he is in a mood to talk.”
JJ’s Criticisms
Mr Mahama said former President Rawlings has “criticized all
administrations,” saying, “If he thinks things are not going right it is his
right to criticize and you take it in good faith.
“When you are president you take decisions on a daily basis and
you must listen to criticisms but eventually, the decision is yours to take and
so there might have been times he makes a suggestion and based on information I
have from National Security intelligence, I take a decision contrary to his
suggestion and of course, he won’t be happy.”
Wide-Ranging Issues
He talked about political communication and cautioned against any
attempt to restrict the use of social media, as well as the fact that Ghana’s
democracy is blossoming due to the entertainment of dissenting opinions by
political actors and the role of the judiciary in the current democratic
dispensation.
Mr. Mahama said he supports a law that will give the president the
power to select his ministers not necessarily from parliament, and reiterated
his position that the Special Prosecutor might not be independent after all
because he/she will operate under the dictates of the Attorney General.
He insisted he doesn’t agree that the president is overly powerful
under the constitution because there are checks and balances in the system.
2020 Comeback
The former president did not rule out coming back to lead the NDC
into the 2020 election. “I am enjoying my new role but at my age I don’t rule
out still contributing to my country; but I will do it under circumstances that
are very necessary and compelling,” he underscored.
He said the “selecting a candidate for NDC is an issue of our
party.”
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