High Tension---Ghana Waits

Well by popular request my political blogging must continue. Before I start , Happy New Year to you all. This year promises to be great. Don`t doubt it just take my word for it. So here goes …..

Can you imagine we are still in the process of deciding who should be the next president of Ghana. In fact as I blog now elections are going on in the Tain constituency. Hopefully by Saturday a winner should be declared. I heard the ruling party took an injunction to the fast track court to prevent the Electoral Commission from declaring a winner. I need to pause now and drink water for this one. When I heard it I was like WHAT!!!!!!. I mean how long must we wait for the obvious. The opposition Party is in the lead and the Tain constituency voted for the opposition party in the first round of elections. Unless there is a political miracle or some senior political tactics, I can`t see Tain shifting their vote for the ruling party.

Ok for the person harboring some hope at least you can believe the numbers. For the ruling party to win they need to secure at least 40,000 of the 53,000 vote available in that constituency. In the first round of the election only about 33,000 of the electorate exercised their electoral franchise so you see already the numbers don`t favor the ruling party. Hmm but some die hards are still holding on. Please oooh, Ghanaians are tired of this back and forth. We need to end this and have a winner declared and sworn in by December 7th so that we can progress. Remember that at the end of the day we are all Ghanaians and we must do all we can to keep the peace and see the nation progress.

On another note I am suffering small small now you can’t use these expression moving forward and changing without some raising an eyebrow and associating you with one political party. Even the media are shying away from it expect some radio stations who have shown that they lend their full support to one political party. I find that unprofessional, as a national radio station one should present an objective view to the public not one filled bias.


I almost forgot to inform you of the state of the nation on Monday (29th December 2008). It was not easy ooh. Apparently the night before the ruling party had sent in some numbers from their strong holds and their validity was being contested by the opposition party. Some supporters from the opposition had gathered at the electoral commission with machetes, sticks and other offensive weapons. There was tension in the atmosphere. So the following day saw banks closing early and everyone going home to listen to the electoral commission announce the results. Man Ghana was at a standstill, we were all waiting. We were scared that the peace that the nation enjoyed would be marred by political violence. I have to confess that on that day, I was without my trusty Renault Clio so I had to rely on public transportation. As I was waiting for a taxi I saw a group of about 10 people men and women chanting we want change with sticks in their hands. I immediately panicked since I was all alone and was not sure if this was a breakaway section of the irate opposition supporter or friendly demonstrators. We I didn`t stick around to find out. I jumped straight into a taxi that had just arrived and for lack of a better expression fled the scene.

We waited for hours for the results to be announced and when it was announced we discovered that the opposition party was in the lead but had to secure more votes from the Tain constituency to keep the lead and win the elections. The ruling party however followed closely behind the opposition and could overturn the results. However the numbers are not in their favor.

I would have to like to end this with a flip side, but unfortunately this is no laughing matter. The only thing I can say is that Tain has become popular and it seems one of the ways to gain popularity in both foreign and local media is to boycott elections. Can you imagine! Now we all know Tain when at first most Ghanaians had not heard of Tain. Hmm No one should get ideas oooh. Their other ways to get you village on the map. I will think of some and let you know.

My final thoughts are that the ruling party and the opposition party should let the will of the people prevail. I know it may not be easy for some since they have poured in a lot of money in the campaign but at the end of the day Ghana is most important. So please let the transition from the old government to the new one be smooth. Losing an election is not the end. It is just a new beginning. The next round of election is just a few years away
So to all Ghanaians let as agree to disagree about who we think will be a better leader but most importantly to agree that we want peace and Ghana to progress into a developed nation.