The 2020 Election Petition – The Story So Far – Abdul Hayi Moomen Writes

A man who has ever fainted in the past is no stranger to death. Similarly, a man who has ever been bitten by a madman takes precaution when he sees a mechanic approaching him. So far, the 2020 election petition is in so many ways, similar to the 2012 election petition. The differences are few, almost negligible. Philip Addison has made way for Akoto Ampaw. Lawyer Quashie Idun has handed the baton to Lawyer Justin Amenuvor. Dr Afari Djan has made way for Madam Jean Mensah. The nine-member panel is now a 7-member panel. Justice Atuguba has been substituted by Justice Anin-Yeboah.  And the NDC is not in court this time. The petitioner in 2012 is now the 2nd respondent while the 2nd respondent in 2012 has become the petitioner in 2020.

Otherwise, the 2020 election petition presents us with a complete déjà vu. All the other names and terms are very familiar. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, John Dramani Mahama, Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, Lawyer Tony Lithur, Justice Anin-Yeboah, and of course, GTV.

Nyaba, do you now get the reference to the man who fainted and why he is no stranger to death? And do you also see why a madman’s bite can the one bitten to become cautious of all mechanics? Do you see why the mistakes that were made in 2012 shouldn’t have been made in 2020?

Our people say, a man who has been struck by severe diarrhea does not have the luxury of choosing which toilet is befitting of receiving his waste. When we participate at the national thumb printing exercise and we suspect that there were problems with the counting of the thumb prints, the only place we can rely on for the suspected problems to be resolved is the house of the earthly gods. They call them “My Lord”. It was within the premises of the house of the earthly gods that the 2012 thumb printing controversies were resolved. It is the same house that is hearing the case brought before it by the man who sat under the Umbrella at the just ended thumb printing festival.

Nyaba, try and sip on a calabash of pito as a attempt to give you the background to this matter which has been brought before the earthly gods. To urinate is easy, but the fowl has never been able to pass urine since it was hatched. This will be difficult, but I will try.

You see, more than 17 million people of our chiefdom wrote their names to participate in the 2020 thumb printing festival, The thumb printing process was keenly watched especially in the presidential race that pit incumbent Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo against former president John Dramani Mahama.

The thumb printing process ended relatively peacefully till the collation process where the main opposition, the people of the Umbrella alleged massive irregularities costing them a parliamentary majority and the seat at the National palace.

According to official results by the office in charge of the counting of thumb prints, the incumbent national chief, Akufo-Addo emerged winner with over 51% of valid votes cast

CONTROVERSY

Two cock crows after the vote, on December 9; the chief counter of thumb prints, Jean Mensah declared the sitting National chief  as the winner of the election, the announcement was strongly protested by the people of the umbrella, who accused the counters of thumb prints of refusing to address some key concerns that they had raised.

The final results were as follows:

Total registered voters: 17,027,941

Total votes cast: 13,432,857

Total valid votes cast: 13,119,460

President Akufo-Addo: 6,730,587 (51.3%)

Ex-president Mahama: 6,213,182 (47.3%)

The figures above were however an amended declaration after the thumb print counters admitted quoting inaccurate figures on December 9. The new statement noted that the EC chair ‘inadvertently’ used total votes cast instead of total valid votes cast to make her earlier declaration.

“This does not change the percentages slated for each candidate and the declaration made by the Chairperson,” an EC statement of December 10 clarified.

GO TO COURT

Following this, the people of the Umbrella began some nationwide protest, but the men in black warned them that the protests remained illegal insofar as the necessary procedures are not followed in line with the public order act.

At this time, supporters of the people of the elephant, who had been declared winners began to taunt the supports of the people of the umbrella, who were protesting on the streets …….“go to court! Go to court!”……

Nyaba, the elders say, you cannot scare a woman who has ever given birth to twins, with a huge manhood. The people of the umbrella were not scared to go to court. They accepted the challenge and are currently in court.

Nyaba, If you borrow the eyes of a cow, everything you see will look like grass. Ever since the earthly gods began hearing the case brought before them, supporters of both the umbrella and the elephant have had different things to say about some of the decisions taken by the court. Again, the déjà vu is playing out. Those who run negative commentary about the earthly gods in 2013 have suddenly seen the godly attributes of the earthly gods. On the other hand, those who used to see everything good about the same gods have suddenly developed Apollo of the eye disease and can hardly see anything good from the earthly gods. Nyaba. Why is this so?

So, the other day, the chief scribe of the Umbrella clan, General Mosquito, sat in the box to bear witness for the former national chief. The “I put it to you man” of the current national chief gave him a calculator, and for more than 5 hours, subjected him to a math exam. Nyaba, don’t ask me if the chief scribe passed the math test or not. I don’t know.

The following day, a certain black man who wore an all-black attire, but who goes by the name Whyte, also sat in the box to bear witness for the former national chief. He said the chief counter of thumb prints acted in bad faith when she asked him and Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo, who were representing the Umbrella in the strong room of the counters of thumb prints, to leave the strong room to go and confer with the former national chief over matters concerning the declaration of results. According to him, by the time they returned to the strong room, the chief counter of thumb prints had already declared the results.

Nyaba, the black man who has been named Whyte used two words interchangeably “asked and instructed”. And that became the talking point.

Nyaba, indeed, today’s newspaper can become tomorrow’s toilet paper. But in court, that is not always the case. In court, the cane that was used to beat Baah yesterday, is the same cane that will be used to beat Takyi tomorrow. When the “I put it to you” man for the Petitioner asked the court to allow him to inspect some documents that were in the possession of the counters of thumb prints, the court perhaps quickly remembered that in 2013, when Baah asked for same, Baah was refused access to the documents. Therefore, now that Takyi is asking for same in 2021, the cane that was used to beat Baah was used to beat Takyi. In other words, the application was dismissed.

Anytime you see a woman running while holding on to her breasts, you can be sure that whatever is chasing her is nor dangerous. We have arrived at a point in the case where the matters are so serious that were it to chase any woman, she would be running so fast, that she might not have time to hold on to her breasts. The next witness is likely to  be a woman – the chief counter of thumb prints.

And just as we are unable to tell how water managed to make its way into the coconut, we will also not be able to tell how her cross-examination will look like.

Nyaba…….. we wait……

Source: MyNewsGh

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