Opinion: In 2012, Asiedu-Nketia Accused Mahama of Rigging Ghana’s Election – By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama/Photo: The Impact Group

He has absolutely no credibility, as far as the conduct of elections in his own country is concerned, so I don’t know why the Commonwealth Secretariat would buy him a roundtrip ticket and put Ghana’s former President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, at the head of the Secretariat’s delegation to monitor the just-concluded Sierra Leonean general election He has absolutely no electoral credibility because in the wake of Ghana’s 2012 general election, the General-Secretary of the then-ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) – Mr. Mahama was then the country’s Interim-President in the lead-up to the that election, following the widely predicted and expected but, nonetheless, mysterious passing of then-President John Evans Atta-Mills – Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, also popularly known as General Mosquito, went on-air and apologetically, confessionally and categorically asserted that the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress had not won the election.

Asia 728x90

Rather, Mr. Asiedu-Nketia, a former Deputy Defense Minister under the tenure of President Jerry John Rawlings, insisted that the 2012 Presidential Election had been won by then-Candidate Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the country’s main opposition New Patriotic Party. Mr. Asiedu-Nketia then went on to deliver the most damning blow to Mr. Mahama’s political career yet. On the latter count or score, General Mosquito categorically noted that the abject lack of vigilance on the part of electoral representatives and assigns of Nana Akufo-Addo had ensured that operatives of the National Democratic Congress would carry the vote via extensive rigging of the polls.

I personally lost whatever modicum of respect I had for this pathologically most ethnocentric, viciously divisive and grossly incompetent of Ghanaian leaders, when in the wake of the passing of President John Evans Atta-Mills, then-Vice-President Mahama appeared in a multicast address to be heartily celebrating the tragic demise of the man who had, literally, handpicked him as his running-mate, in retrospect, against the better judgment of former President Jerry John Rawlings, the officially acclaimed founding-father of the National Democratic Congress, by callously claiming that it was “Divine Providence in His inscrutable wisdom, who had auspiciously” removed Prof. Atta-Mills from the seat of power and governance and delectably made way for the former Rawlings’ Communication Minister as the first post-1957-born Ghanaian citizen to be named President of the Democratic Republic of Ghana.

His supporters and sympathizers have flippantly claimed that Mr. Mahama did absolutely nothing wrong, and that at the very worst, he could only be faulted for having poorly handled the death of his then immediate boss and generous benefactor. To-date, the former National Democratic Congress’ Member for Gonja-West has not been able to effectively and convincingly inform the nation on precisely how his immediate boss died and the precise cause of his death. What is quite clear here is the fact that Mr. Mahama may very well not have been on cordial terms with his former boss and immediate predecessor. He was also widely alleged to have been placed under corruption investigation by Prof. Atta-Mills, involving the loss of millions of dollars in connection with the purchase of some aircraft from Brazil, for the use of both the Presidency and the Ghana Armed Forces.

The newly named Independent Special Public Prosecutor may very well be interested in looking into this matter. Mr. Martin Amidu, a no-nonsense former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under President Atta-Mills, was scandalously fired under circumstances that continue to divide national sentiments. It had to do with the staunch and shameless backing of Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, a well-known National Democratic Congress’ financier, who was accused of having defrauded the Ghanaian taxpayer to the “unspeakable” tune of GHȻ 51.2 Million, with the collusive and collaborative complicity of a platoon of party stalwarts, including the late President. Mr. Amidu had boldly insisted on retrieving this mega-theft money against the inexcusably corrupt advice of President Atta-Mills, who had then promptly expelled Mr. Amidu from his cabinet.

In the latest of what is fast shaping up to be flagrant meddling in the just-concluded Sierra Leonean general election, Mr. Mahama has been accused of attempting to assist one of the parties that participated in the election to rig the same. The former Ghanaian leader has vehemently denied the accusation and insisted that he has absolutely no interest in who becomes President of the former British colony whose President, Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma, has allegedly accused the Chief British Diplomat in Sierra Leone, or the British High Commissioner, of scheming to have the ruling party removed from power. As of this writing, it was reported that Sierra Leone’s main opposition party had been declared winner of the hard-fought and controversy-wracked electoral process.

The passport of the former Ghanaian leader has also appeared on the Internet with the suggestion that he had been deported from Sierra Leone prior to the conclusion of the election, for allegedly meddling in the same. Mr. Mahama is also scarcely known to be a progressive leader whose image and reputation in the West African sub-region make any critically-thinking and levelheaded Ghanaian citizen proud. In the wake of the popular revolt that culminated in the overthrow of Burkina Faso’s longtime strongman, President Blaise Campaore, for example, then-President Mahama staunchly backed the aging dictator against the street demonstrators whose righteous act of indignation and civil disobedience he brazenly and cavalierly characterized as illegal.

He would also pay a congratulatory “fraternal” visit to Gambia, as Chairman of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), to heartily congratulate then-President Yahya Jammeh, for surviving a military coup, after the longtime Gambia strongman had refused to concede defeat in an election whose results he had initially accepted. It would take the creative initiative and progressive and democratic zeal of the newly elected President Akufo-Addo, together with the leaders of major West African countries like Nigeria and Senegal, to force the Gambian dictator out of power. Clearly, the personality that we are talking about here is not one who deserves the respect of civilized and democracy-loving people anywhere around the globe.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com  Ghanaffairs

The views expressed by this author remain solely their own and are not to be taken as the view of the Editorial Board of www.africanewsanalysis.com,  www.zongonews.com and ZongoNews Radio & TV