WE HAVE MANY LESSONS TO LEARN FROM OUR THUMB ACTION BUT WHEN DO WE START??
This posting is a direct quote from a email posting I sent a friend on the Okyeame Network. I thought it might make not just a good epilogue but also a good link to my first posting on December 27th on the second round of the Ghanaian presidential elections.
It's now the beginning of the second day after the elections. We (Ghanaians with or without a vote) truly experienced nail-biting like never seen before with this finish-to-the-wire election. I even finished my finger nails and started on my toes. ouch!!!
whatever it is or has been, the elections are now over and we expect the Electoral Commission to call the elections by the end of the day and certainly before New Year's day depending on what the final scenario is. One big question that we all want to ask, is whether the remaining constituencies to be confirmed/certified by the Electoral Commission would render the prospective ballot in Tain constituency ( Brong Ahafo) relevant or not to the political equation
What a period we have witnessed these past 48 hours... Now read on ....
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Subject: Re: Those who betrayed!!
Togbe Yao,
in some of the places, there was skirt and blouse voting, I suppose. either because of problems during the party primaries for parliamentary candidate or the people were unhappy with "instructions from Accra" or with their local party executives.. This happened to both parties.
The result? some of the parliamentary aspirants went independent and so split votes. see what happened at Nkawkaw for example to use an example not included in your list. You will see that The one who won "was" probably thicker and stauncher politically than the NPP candidate. he was sacked so he went ballistically independent... beat the NPP Candidate hands down. Even though Nana Addo ultimately won in NKawkaw, you could see that Mills grabbed a sizable chunk of Shaaba's votes so Nana Addo's votes were down by about 5,000 and the anger seemed to have been there. so indeed, NPP's losses really started from the first round.
with the general drubbing of NPP in the first round in the Central Region from 16-2 to 11-7 or so, the very good performance of NDC in Ashanti, Western and even Brong Ahafo compared to previous years. the only battle ground region left was Greater Accra.. but there too many stalwarts did not contest so in some of the constituencies, the glitter and shine was lost.
If you recall, in one of my postings (also available on my blog http://bla-elik.blogspot.com) , I noted that many great NPP MP folk either did not contest or were beaten at the primaries and many of their replacements were not seen as great material by the voters ultimately. The lesson here is that the Party name (or for that matter, the tradition) alone is not enough! and generally it showed everywhere.
We do need to look at the voting preferences of Volta Region where it appears that the party colour has made more than a showing every time. Except that this year, the candidates were from nowhere near there so either Volta Region has made up its mind as NDC all the way, or the other parties have not been able to present a credible message that the people there like.
In the main therefore, it has not been a matter of betrayal but really a real conundrum in party political strategy that meets the aspirations of the voters.
This election, I repeat, is a lesson, big time, in what to do or not to do, it has redrawn the electoral map of Ghana. To me, it does not matter where it finally ends, but it has been humbling for both parties. It has also been eye-revealing or is it popping for the parties.
Voters appeared unimpressed with the roads, hospitals and infrastructural projects, the macro-economic gains etc. Voters dealt with their perceptions of the politicians, the currency of the political and propaganda messages. Communications strategy and effectiveness played a key role in my view else One cannot simply explain voter patterns this time round. it has been a true shocker. Truly truly, one cannot take the Ghanaian voter for granted anymore
Clearly we are a two party state. the rest of them should just align with one. at best, we can have a third "liberal/social democrat" type political element in the equation for the future.
whatever the outcome tomorrow when the EC is expected to make its announcement, Ghana will be a changed place (pun not intended) politically.
But the other side of the coin is that if Mills is confirmed tomorrow, he will have a difficult legislature to deal with when it comes to matters requiring the FULL MAJORITY of the House. If Nana ( in what seems to be a very tight and difficult scenario) is confirmed tomorrow, he will most definitely have a House that can really require him to have coalition type arrangements with appointments (even though he wont be required to). All this is part of the changed political landscape that the incoming President would have to face come January 7th
I am definitely not happy with some of the postures of the party supporters, the NDC especially, since late Monday afternoon when most of the radio & TV stations put out the results of 224-226 constituency results. then most of them started playing Highlife and Gospel songs. but clearly the NDC boys across the country are charged and any result now that says NPP won would most likely, no most definitely, be rejected by them. They are so wild that it could be a tinder box waiting to be ignited. I don't know whether I should express any concern about this, but I am afraid I have to, because the prospects of violence would clearly send this town back 50 years. the prospects of losing our credibility as a politically mature state would be wiped off the slate in no time. In addition, the prospects of having a marred transition - short as it would now have to be - does not appear to be a cosy choice at all for me.
How do we resolve this? This is the time for leadership to be manifested by Nana Akufo-Addo and Prof Mills. I would pray that my dreams of them having breakfast or brunch together tomorrow ( Tuesday Dec 30th) comes true. They probably could do that before the results are announced tomorrow (Hopefully at about noon, as we seem to be hearing).
and won't it be even nicer if both of them were at the announcement event so that one can immediately concede and hug the other, whichever way it goes!!!! this reminds me of a CitiFM report from Cape Coast Monday evening where people in both NPP and NDC Tshirts were seen jubilating together that GHANA HAS WON and that democracy has come to roost.
This election has been about Ghana. and once again I am proud to be Ghanaian. I abhor mod-action, I dearly stand on the side of peace and nationhood. This is my home, I ain't gonna go nowhere. And we shall live in it, without the fear of looking back or sleeping with one eye open.
Ghanaman has spoken and its now left to the Electoral Commission to also do its part. What a shocker of an election!!!
Good morning
Bla Elik
At 22:13 29/12/2008, Yao wrote:
Based on data from Ghanaweb (with 226 constituencies reported), the following constituencies (number of votes, irrespective), betrayed their presidential candidates (only presidential votes compared for Dec 7 and 28, with Dec 7 MPs listed), and looked the way during the run-off. The information excludes data from the four remaining and unreported constituencies:
Ashanti: None
Brong-Ahafo: Asutifi South (switched to NDC) - MP not reported on Ghanaweb
Central: Assin North (switched to NPP) - an NPP MP
Eastern: None
Greater Accra: Ablekuma South (switched to NDC) - NDC MP
Ayawaso Central (switched to NDC) - NPP MP
Ayawaso West Wuogon (switched to NDC) - NPP MP
Northern: Tolon (switched to NDC) - NDC MP
Upper East: Bawku Central (switched to NDC) - NPP MP
Upper West: Lambussie (switched to NDC) - NPP MP
Wa East (switched to NDC) - NPP MP
Volta: None
Western: Bibiani-Anhwiaso Bekwai (switched to NDC) - NPP- MP
Mpohor Wassa East (switched to NDC) - NPP MP
Prestea - Huni Valley (switched to NDC) - NDC MP
Question:
What does this mean?
Are the NPP MPs in trouble, or is it "hatred" for Akuffo-Addo that seem to have swayed voters somewhere else? What can we read into this trend? Why did Assin North not vote NPP the first time round? The same question can be asked of Ablekuma South, Tolon, Prestea-Huni Valley. Why did they vote NPP but elected an NDC MP?
Let's talk!
Yao
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