Invite Bawumia for questioning — A rejoinder
The Daily Graphic of January 7, 2016 carried a call by Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), General Secretary, for the arrest of Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for very spurious and propaganda reasons. The call has to be attended to.
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Mr Aseidu Nketiah sought to create the impression that he was relying on certain findings by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana in dealing with claims by the NPP on the flawed nature of the nation’s Electoral Register.
In that claim, the NPP stated, inter alia, that Togolese citizens whose pictures appeared in the Togo register were also found in Ghana’s Voters’ Register.
Ghana Police and Interpol
On the day of the Press Conference, I advised the EC, through the media, to seek the assistance of the Ghana Police Service and Interpol in doing their work as the matter had international dimensions.
What did the EC do? By their letter to the NPP and also the report they provided to the public after the Public Forum, the EC said that on or about November 10, 2015, they wrote to their Togolese counterpart “requesting a copy of the Togo Register for examination”. According to our EC, Togo replied that they could not release the document to them, citing security reasons.
Anyone who has the least experience in how international institutions or nations deal with one another would tell you the Ghanaian approach was bound to be futile.
First of all, who are the Ghana EC to demand the Togolese Register for “examination”? Could Togo operate under Ghana? Could they not have sent them the particulars of the double registrants and sought “specific” assistance regarding them?
This is a matter which affects nations. This is also a matter of criminality since it is an offence for foreigners to vote in Ghana. The Ghana Police should have been called upon to investigate and Interpol office at the Ghana Police headquarters should have been brought in since both Ghana and Togo are part of the International Protocol on Interpol. All relevant information would have been obtained and in an authenticated manner. This would have put all controversy to rest. Why did our EC not do so? And how can the truth come out?
Information
Think of this. If Shell Petroleum gets information that some workers on their payroll are also on the payroll of rivals Mobil, can Shell write to Mobil to send them their entire roll of workers for their “examination”? No. A better and humble approach should be adopted. I call upon the EC and the police and Interpol to act accordingly.
In Ghana, our Civil and Criminal Procedure law requires that if during any trial a criminal allegation comes before the court, the judge must refer the matter to the police for investigation. The EC, for very strange reason, decided to be detective, when they have no such mandate or capacity. Neither did they use the right approach. The EC method put garbage in and got garbage out. Why did the EC not copy the political parties the letter they sent to the Togo EC? Why did our EC not report to the police and use Interpol? Their process is suspect when all these are considered.
Investigations
Mr Asiedu Nketia, if he means business, should make a report to the Ghana Police now. Dr Bawumia will meet him there. And the real investigations will be done with Interpol involvement. We will see that Asiedu Nketia will end up before court. He will be found to have deceived the police and all Ghanaians. I give him 24 hours.
Mr Aseidu Nketia should also be charged with maligning the Supreme Court of Ghana. He peddled palpable falsehood when he said that Dr Bawumia deliberately and dishonestly manufactured and presented false pink sheets to the Supreme Court; and because the Supreme Court allowed him to get away with this falsehood, he is emboldened to do more and worse. This is a wicked lie.
There was no such finding in any part of the judgment of the Supreme Court. Mr Aseidu Nketiah, if he is honourable, should withdraw this and apologise within 24 hours. Otherwise, Notice will be given to him, the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, Justice Atuguba and all relevant authority to summon Mr Nketiah for contempt of Court immediately. Mr Asiedu Nketiah has manufactured his findings and seeks to malign the Supreme Court for failing to do the right thing, allowing wrongdoers to go scot-free and for that matter a person is emboldened to do worse.
Straightforward manner
It is most unfortunate that an exercise which should have been done in a straightforward manner has been allowed to become bizarre.
Both Peace FM and Atinka FM on Thursday morning, January 7, 2016 interviewed a leading opposition politician in Togo, Mr Masseme Esse, who said that in Togo the political parties were well integrated into the Electoral Commission and its activities.
That all political parties had copies - hard and soft – of the Register. He echoed: “I can confirm that I have seen the Togo Register presented by the NPP and it is the same that we used for our elections. It shows all the details that we have on our Register”.