Ghana Decides Elections 08--The Flip Side

Ok so 2008 was a big year, I use was because unfortunately the year is coming to an end. Well the end of the year had Ghanaians going to the polls to vote for the next president of Ghana. So there were 7 political parties contesting and one independent candidate. This year had fierce campaigning. Frankly speaking I felt the race was between the ruling party, the largest opposition and a third party that had really rebranded itself. I have to confess I enjoyed the campaign period. Man from funny ADs, interesting billboards, creative party slogans and hand signs, every one became political or had a comment about the politics of the day. The jokes were endless. There was even talk of another party called the 'noko fio party’ loosely translated it means something small. After all are we not all looking for something small day after day? Come on you can admit it or you are looking for something big?

Well the atmosphere became charged as Election Day drew closer. We were scared that the peace that Ghanaians enjoy would be marred by political violence. We had just seen political violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
The media started a peace campaign. Churches and religious groups got together to pray. I was proud as to how people were ready to guard the peace of the nation. Even the political leaders preached peace. We did have some incidents up north but the security officials were vigilant to curb any escalation of violence. We also had quite some drama with the registration exercise. There were long queues and accusations of minors and illegal residents registering. So personally I was like if I go and vote and there are any long queues I will leave. I was not even sure I wanted to vote.

All that changed a few weeks to the election. We had presidential debates with Nana Akuffo Addo for the NPP, Professor Atta Mills for the NDC, Paa Kwesi Nduom for the CPP and Edward Mahama from the PNP. I enjoyed the debates immensely. This was the first time such debates were being held in Ghana. What I found interesting was that some people were not being objective as they listened to the debates. Strong party supporters felt that their presidential candidates did better than the others. I was objective of course and found merits and demerits in each presentation. One presidential aspirant promised chicken a day for each school going child. Now at that point I began to wonder if that candidate had a personal grudge against chickens or was just thinking outside the box and into the bush as my class mate used to say. Well we shall see how the candidate performs.

So on December 7th Ghanaians went to vote. I was excited and ready to vote. I believed that Ghanaians would keep the peace but just to be sure I decided to go and vote early. So I got to the polling station at 6:50. Voting was supposed to start at 7. If you think that was early some people got to the polling station at 10:30 pm the previous day. Ok so the plan was vote early go to church and then home. At 9:00 the ballot boxes were still not in. I had been in the queue for 2 hours. That did not bother me because I am a diehard voter. I really wanted to vote. So I went home got a chair, and some food and then went back to join the queue. The whole neighborhood turned up to vote. I saw people I had never seen in the neighborhood and I saw my neighbors. At this point I knew it was going to be a peaceful voting session in Ring way Estate. After all when we assembled we started to greet each other and Ring way is known for having quiet elections. Last 4 years when I went to vote there was no one there.

This year voter turnout at Ring way was big. After all it was time to decide if we should move forward or we should change. I would have loved to report that my voting session was without incidence but unfortunately that was not the case. Ok I can`t give an accurate report since I did not dare leave my place in the queue to form part of the spectators. So I stood in the queue hoping and praying this little incidence would be resolved. Well God answered my prayers because before I could say "Jack Rabbit”, a car containing police commandos, the army and the police appeared on the scene and the perpetuators whisked into the car and once again peace and calm was restored. So finally the moment I had waited 3 hours arrived. I got to the polling booth and the official dipped my full little finger into the indelible ink. I was like there goes my manicure. But I did not care if an indelible marked little finger was my ticket to vote then so be it. I voted for the individual I believed would be a great leader. After performing my civic duty I felt a sense of pride. My whole family had also voted. So we went home to listen to news of the voting experience at different polling stations. I am proud to announce that Ghanaians did it again!

We showed the world that we have matured in our democratic dispensation we went to the polls to vote without any major incidence. Kudos my fellow Ghanaians you did good. Now the first hurdle had been crossed. The next one was counting the votes.
Hmm that section saw some mathematical gymnastics and James Bond movements. I have to say that power is sweet ooh since some people are willing to do anything for it. Ok so elections are serious business but it is not a do or die affair. So now I am going to talk about the flip side. If you can` take any election joke then please stop reading, if not then come with me to the rumour mill.

Let me start with my all time favorite. Ok so I heard one aspiring MP pulled what I call a classic James Bond move. So instead of counting the ballot papers at the polling station the ballot boxes were moved to another location. Now while this precious cargo was being transported suddenly the vehicle broke down and low and behold a tuck appeared on the scene to save the day. So the ballot boxes were moved into the truck which was said to have some ballot boxes already in it. Then before anyone could blink the car was now working and all the ballot boxes were moved from the truck in to the car. One polling agent started to complain that there were some illegal ballot boxes among the valid boxes. He was asked to identify the illegal ballot boxes. All he could say was ahem… ahem… This was because all the ballot boxes looked the same. Can you imagine this is a real James bond move.

Needless to say the MP in question won for that constituency. Charlie there are some senior politicians out there. Whoever said politicians are not creative. I don`t condone such behavior . I believe that the voice of the people should be heard through free and fair elections.

My other favorite was the theory of the five count victory. Ok pens and papers out . So you have a box with a finite set of red and blue balls. Your goal is to determine the number of red balls and the number of blue balls in the box. But the result has to be that the red balls are more than the blue balls. So you must work towards that result. So tell me how do you get more red balls than blue balls when there are perhaps more blue balls. Are you scratching your heads? Well the answer is simple count five times .If you don`t believe me ask one of the MP`s who won after 5 counts. No names oooh. And I need to say his information is from the rumor mill. So please don`t quote me.
Ok now I have to retire but on a serious note. I have the results of the presidential elections. These are the actual results announced by the head of the electoral commission.

Total valid votes-8,465,834
Total rejected votes-205,438
Total votes cast—8,671,272
Total registered votesrs-12,472,758
Total % turnout-69.52%
Total % rejectedvotes-2.4%
Nana Akuffo Addo --49.13%
Professor Atta Mills --47.92%
Paa Kwesi Nduom --1.34%
Edward Mahama---0.83
Emmanuel Antwi---0.33%
Kwabena Adjei--0.08%
Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah--- 0.23%
T.N. Ward-Brew-0.01%

Unfortunately no candidate was able to get a 50 plus one majority. So we are going to the polls again. So watch out for the sequel to this blog and Ghanaians vote wisely and peacefully.