NPP are their own Antwi

Forgive me if your name is Antwi, no offence intended, but there’s an old proverbial saying in the Twi language that "Enye obia na kum Antwi", which means Man, or rather Beings are their own enemies. I am being too cautious about using the noun Man to refer to the human race for fear of angering women’s rights readers even though the noun man is generally accepted as a word for both sexes - Male or Female. There are so many words in English with negative connotations. Here are a couple of examples. BLES-SING and UNDER-STAND. Some persons in the Rastafarian community have suggested that words like understand should be changed to Over-stand, because of the negative connotation of UNDER. When you comprehend something, you are on top of it and not under it, hence the suggestion to use Overstand. The noun blessing has been suggested to be simply Bless or something else other the SIN. You cannot be blessed and yet covered by SIN. Is the English language a sexist one? Check this - FE-MALE, WO-MAN, MEN-STRATION, MEN-OPUS, HU-MAN and so on. It looks like English is a set of many words used by British males to suppress Wo-men. Indeed a cursory look at British history would reveal a systematic effort at keeping women a notch below their male counterparts even though things have changed drastically in Britain on the rights guaranteed to women. The Anglican Church elsewhere has for more than 20 years ordained women Bishops except BRITAIN. But very soon, we would see women bishops in the Anglican Church. There’s a draft law in Britain that seeks to see to that. The drama which has characterised the Ghanaian election evokes memories of the European Cup final match between Bayern Munich and Manchester United. That match still seems like yesterday but it was in 1999, battle ground was Nou Camp stadium in Italy. Final Score line 2 -1. It was Peter Schmeichel’s last ever game for Man U. Coach Alex Ferguson had worked hardest for it even though they played badly in that game. Alex had been head of the Red Devils since November 1986 and needed the European Cup badly. He had done it all, seen it all except the UEFA Cup victory. As history would have it, Man U trailed by a goal down with 90 minutes of regulation time. Bayern was ecstatic, media commentaries were all praise for Bayern. But alas, the dreams of Bayern were shattered in 3 minutes. And so shall it be in 3 days after the declaration of results in Ghana’s second round voting for the NPP. Manchester United’s defeat of the Bayern was more than a miracle. But with the defeat of the NPP, It will be simply a confirmation of reality. I surmise when the NPP, in spite of the fraud in the first and second rounds of voting (the NDC has provided the Electoral Commission with evidence to that effect. It is only under the NPP that one can win majority votes in eight out of ten regions of Ghana and still not win by a land slide) did not expect the NDC to do so well but there is even a sound beating awaiting the Nana Addo, who cannot come to terms with the fact that Ghanaians cannot trust him with something as important as President, particularly when Kufuor and his ministers have dramatically displayed serial incompetence. Prof. Mills has been written off by a large section of the Ghanaian media, particularly the notorious "coffee shop mafia", a bunch senior editors, most of whom feel their biases and hostile reportage of the NDC activities is authority and that Ghanaians are so gullible they cannot see who is an angel and who is devil. Wake up boys. You have been living on dreamland for far too long and as Jamaicans like to put it, "not even obeah or Juju" can make Akufo-Addo President. The Tain constituency was won in the first round by Pro Mills who got 50.75 per cent or 16,211 votes whilst Akufo-Addo managed 46.75 per cent or 14,935 votes. Results certified by the EC shows the NDC had won by 4,501,466 or 50.13 per cent while the NPP scored 4,478,411 or 49.87 per cent Results released by the Electoral Commission shows a gap of 23,055 votes between the NDC and the NPP. The total number of registered voters in the Tain Constituency is 53,890. Assuming there’s even a 100 per cent voter turnout in Tain; Akufo-Addo cannot get more than 25,000 of those votes even if by magic and fraud as they have done in the Ashanti region. And don’t forget some of the results in the Ashanti region are disputed and the NDC has provided hard evidence of fraud orchestrated by the NPP. Most of the members of the coffee shop mafia bear a grudge against the NDC and Chairman Rawlings, for their imprisonment during the days of Military rule after being sent to jail under the criminal libel law. People have written in their papers all manner of things against the Rawlings. Some claimed Rawlings and his wife had stolen money and they have been unable to provide even one proof. Jerry Rawlings went as further as challenging not only the BBC and CNN, but agencies like the Swiss Intelligence, the CIA, MOSSAD and any organisation that has proof to the contrary. John Kufuor for propaganda purposes accused Jerry Rawlings of travelling to South America to buy arms to overthrown his government. He won a re-election with that in 2004. Since 1992 when the NDC was formed, the "coffee shop mafia" has excoriated Jerry Rawlings and the NDC leadership. Prof Mills has been called all sorts of names I dare not repeat here. They described Mills in their hostile press as loser (a man who is credited with some of Ghana’s tax reforms which was vehemently opposed by the NPP but currently being upheld by the same people who opposed it when it suited them, a man who got his PhD. In Law at the age of 27 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, spent nearly 30 years of his life teaching Law at Ghana’s premier University, and a man who has given the over - hyped NPP candidate Nana Akufo-Addo not only a sound beating but the final political blow to NPP’s place in the Ghana’s politics as we would see in the years ahead). The NPP has thrived on lies and propaganda. Ghana is a country where the NPP when in opposition promised the people milk and honey. They were so brazen in their deception they have promised to build an airport in Hamele, where people need just the basics ingredients of life. The People of Hamele immediately need agricultural subsidies for their farmers, hospitals and school. The NPP just recently even promised to make the Tamale airport an international airport when so many civil service workers need affordable housing, computers and science laboratories for their schools and drinking water. The NPP and their friends in the media have been so naive they have made incessant propaganda attacks on Prof. Mills to the effect that Professor Mills would be controlled by Jerry Rawlings from the sidelines, forgetting that Jerry Rawlings, unlike many of his compatriots on the African continent willing gave up power after his tenure. They have forgotten that John Kufuor would never have been president if Jerry Rawlings was that power hungry. We have seen it all over the place where leaders have tinkered with their constitution and held on to power as if they were the only repository of wisdom and leadership qualities - Paul Biya, Hosni Mubarak, Obasanjo, Mugabe, Eyadema, Lansana Conte etc. The anti Rawlings propaganda was so widespread some BBC journalists even bought into it. In an interview on BBC Hard Talk in September 2005, Zeinab Badawi, a very sterling Sudanese journalist was so engrossed in pushing the propaganda she forgot her facts, but for the experience and smartness of Jerry Rawlings she would have fed her audience with complete propaganda. She apologised and made corrections, but you could see from her body language she did not imagine Rawlings would read between the lines. I still wonder what editors/producers of the programme might have said to her after the interview. It was a complete display of bias or ignorance which is not excusable as far as the BBC is concerned. The leadership of the NPP has just shot themselves in the foot and Nana Addo is the chief Antwi of the NPP. The entire country was so tense after the second round of voting it was only by the spirit of Nananom (Forefathers) that may have averted the lingering catastrophe that may have engulfed our dearest country. It was the kind of catastrophe I warned about in a recent article published by myjoyonline.com dubbed STRICTLY POSITIVE DEFIANCE: PROVOKE NOT THE NDC TO WRATH. After the first round of voting, the Convention People’s Party, which underperformed was completely written off. Well, it looks like that may be wrong now because the CPP was just given a lifeline by the NPP. The CPP has just become the next alternative party in Ghana. The NPP have demonstrated they cannot be trusted, that they are fraudulent and would do anything and everything to retain power even if it means threatening the peace we enjoy in a very storm Africa where peace is a scarce commodity and largely so because of political parties like the NPP. I cannot foresee the NPP winning an election in Ghana in the next 20 or 30 years and they have to blame themselves for the self-destruction. They have signed the death warrant of their own party, angered and given majority of Ghanaians such a scare, it would take serious and unimaginable mistakes by the NDC and now the CPP for the NPP to be trusted with power again. I have said it time and again those in the NPP are not democrats and events of the past few days clearly reflect these feelings. People were so scared of an uprising business in the capital and elsewhere came to a standstill. They have also given credence to accusations that indeed they have stashed away billions of tax payers money they are afraid what might befall them. But, unlike John Kufuor, the NDC would not go out to hound them, pack the courts and try them. Mills will have so many important things to deal with. The nation has to heal and prosper. Here’s what will happen. The NDC will be engrossed with fulfilling promises and meeting the aspirations of Ghanaians - Better and Accountable leadership. Those who have anything to worry about in the NPP are those who have committed crimes against the state. No sin shall go unpunished. Perpetrators of the heinous crimes like assassination of the overlord of Dagbon will face justice. Persons who have caused financial loss will face the music and we can only wish they will have the courage to stay in the country like the leadership of the NDC did when it lost power. John Kufuor is bequeathing us a divided and angry nation, but as the year draws to a close, we can only bid each other good tidings and look forward to a government of Unity and Progress with Justice and Freedom taking centre piece in an Atta Mills Presidency. God Bless Ghana, God Bless the NDC, Umoja Africa and a Happy New Year. RAS MUBARAK Glasgow, Scotland Ras Mubarak

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