In the Fourth Republic, we have not one definition of truth.
There is NDC truth, NPP truth, and there is truth.
Beyond, below and above the truth, there is, in addition, what our grandmothers have always feared most: lies that resemble truth.
There is a classic example of the latter in a court case somewhere in the Central Region of Ghana involving a man who had been accused of stealing “55 cigarettes.”
Defence counsel argued that there was no such thing as “55 cigarette”, as indicated on the police charge sheet.
The judge agreed that there was only one product, “555 cigarette”, not “55 cigarette”.
He dismissed the case.
Ridiculous?
Forgotten which year, but it was somewhere in the AFRC regime.
The nation’s conscience was shocked.
The Head of State, Flight Lieutenant Rawlings, was beside himself with rage.
For him, it was a clear example of why the Holy War which his regime of revolutionaries had embarked on had always called for “revolutionary justice”.
In writing this article, I asked all-knowing AI for its comment.
Here’s what it says: “In actual legal practice, a case would rarely be permanently dismissed because of a simple clerical typo like writing ‘555’ instead of ‘55’ on a charge sheet”; that “when a lawyer points out a technical or clerical error on a charge sheet, the legal system typically handles it through standard procedural rules rather than throwing the case out completely”.
There is another classic case but (pardon me) it belongs to fiction.
In a ridiculous case cited in an Agatha Christie novel, ‘Hercule Poirot’, the fictional detective argued in court that the accused wrote the police statement under duress; that the accused person, a chain-smoker, waived his right to remain silent when the police gave him a cigarette to smoke; that this “bribe” compromised him while in police custody.
What is the truth?
In March 2023, during the lead-up to the 2024 elections in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo appointed Dr Peter Appiahene as a Deputy Commissioner of the Electoral Commission.
When it was pointed out to the President that the man was a confessed NPP communicator, former party IT Director and patron of the party’s student wing (TESCON), the first reaction of the party was to deny the truth.
When someone took the truth to the media and the man was heard on tape introducing himself on a radio talk show as an NPP communicator, the party’s definition of truth started shifting.
Akufo-Addo’s mind could not be changed by facts and figures.
The man was sworn in.
The effect on me was like a belly blow. In the days before he became President, Akufo-Addo was, to me, an archangel, a man so coldly holy that butter would not melt in his mouth.
I was so sure about him that I all but swore to colleagues that the Akufo-Addo I knew would immediately withdraw the nomination.
But no; there was an NPP truth, and there was the “truth” in a country where, by convention and practice, the word of the President is law.
Civil society organisations such as the CDD and CODEO, as well as opposition parties (including the NDC), argued that “appointing a partisan political activist to the electoral management body violates the spirit of neutrality required by Ghana's constitution.”
The President’s subsequent words created the scenario I have described above, where “lies are made to resemble the truth”.
During the swearing-in ceremony of Dr Appiahene and two other EC members at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo replied to his critics thus:
"Elections are about those who cast the vote, not those who count, not those who supervise, not those who transmit the results."
That was bad.
Come 2026, being bad is not the truth for the NDC. On Monday, October 12, 2026, President Mahama swore in Emelia Afi Agbenyo as Deputy Chairperson of Ghana's Electoral Commission.
Turns out Emelia Agbenyo is, in the words of NPP Communications Director Dennis Miracles Aboagye, a “dyed-in-the-wool” NDC activist.
She is on record openly expressing support for the NDC; indeed, Miracles Aboagye, the NPP Director of Communications, has cited a social media post in which the woman is heard calling on Ghanaians to vote for John Mahama in the 2020 elections.
A classic case of the kettle and the pot.
The only problem in this country is that there is (and will be) nobody to pronounce judgement as to which of the two is blacker. Beyond judgement, how do we punish lying and open insincerity?
Holily, Miracles Aboagye has found his sense of justice and morality.
Pontificating, he has been quick to question the lady’s ability to remain politically neutral in the discharge of her duties.
Where was Miracles Aboagye’s conscience in 2023?
Truth is in short supply in Ghana.
The Akans would say, “Nokware asa”.
Truth has fled through the window, and we have bolted the window against its return.
Truth is what the NDC/NPP says.
All because of “Winner Takes All” in our democracy.
Truth be told, this load we are carrying is breaking Ghana’s neck, and yet we cannot cry – we dare not cry.
