Why is Mahama blaming everyone and everything else except himself?

I could not believe my eyes when I recently read elsewhere that Ex-President Mahama is seriously blaming his 2016 humiliating election defeat on vote rigging.

In fact, former President Mahama has blamed everyone and everything else for his historic 2016 election defeat except himself.

Not long ago, Ex-President Mahama was at his finger pointing best when he bizarrely accused the NDC Executives for diverting 2016 electioneering campaign funds which culminated in his humiliating defeat.

He uncharacteristically poured his heart out when addressing NDC Executives in the Awutu Senya Constituency in the Central Region on Wednesday 26th September 2018 (See: We won’t allow campaign funds, logistics to be diverted – Mahama;citinewsroom.com/ghanaweb.com, 27/09/2018).

Ex-President Mahama is reported to have lamented: “I have noted all our mistakes. We realized campaign funds were diverted, but we have learnt our lessons. We will ensure campaign funds go through the right channel to get the campaign done. In 2020, we must rise up and be vigilant.”

Somehow, former President Mahama is refusing to accept the fact that his dreadful errors in judgement amid rampant corruption, untold economic hardships and business crippling dumsor largely contributed to his 2016 humiliating election defeat.

How can you blame others of your woes when your sibling Ibrahim Mahama took advantage of your presidency and blatantly refused to pay import taxes to the tune of over GH12 million?

Why must you blame others over your historic defeat when you flagrantly gave away 58% of Ghana’s bauxite to your sibling Ibrahim Mahama to the utter disgust of discerning Ghanaians?

How could former President Mahama unjustifiably give apologists like Madam Akua Donkor of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) two four wheel drive cars and a luxury bungalow (estimated to cost a staggering $470,000) for no work done, and then turn around and blame others for his historic election defeat?

Why must Ex-President Mahama assume that Ghanaians suffer from chronic memory loss and that he can keep taking everyone else for granted?

It would appear that former President Mahama hates to accept any blame and rather prefers to point accusing fingers at others.

A few months ago, I was taken aback upon watching Ex-President Mahama on GTV, where he ventilated his arousing disgust over the conduct of 2016 general elections and bizarrely alleged that it was characterised with unpardonable irregularities, and hence his humiliating defeat.

Ex-President Mahama nonetheless went ahead and insisted that he could have gone around the country to gather the evidence of the alleged irregularities and lodge a protest at the law court but for NDC’s absolute belief in the democratic ideals.

Well, if, indeed, former President Mahama was convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that there were unobjectionable irregularities in the 2016 election and failed to take action, then he did not discharge his duty as a patriotic Ghanaian, so to speak.

The other time I read somewhere that some NDC Executives have been blaming their humiliating 2016 election defeat on a technical hitch to their results collation system. How bizarre?

Back then, when I was skimming through the weird story, I thought I was dreaming. But I was not, I was alive and kicking. The story was so bizarre, so to speak.

After all, haven’t we been told by our apex court that elections are won at the polling stations and not in the court rooms? Indeed, the eminent Supreme Court judges pronouncement was in order.

Vote rigging, in my opinion, is comparable to a violation of allegiance to a sovereign nation. Thus frankly stating, such a high crime must not and cannot be overlooked with a stark perfunctory.

Ironically, the worst part of vote rigging is that, the deserving winners’ may never know they ever won. How cruel, how pathetic and how unfair that would be?

I have said time and time again that it is boundlessly unacceptable for the electorates to go to the polls with a view to voting for their preferred candidate and only for the people behind the scenes to select who should become a winner.

If you may recall, in his 2012 election petition verdict, Justice Atuguba made some contestable observations including the definition of over-voting which was one of the claims brought up by the petitioners.

“The first is where the number of those who voted at a polling station exceeds the number of voters contained in the relevant polling station register.” “The second situation is where the number of ballots in the ballot book exceeds the number of ballot papers issued to the relevant polling station.”

“Pondering over these two categories closely, I would think that the second category of over voting is rather an instance of ballot-stuffing as testified by Johnson Asiedu-Nketia,” the presiding judge delineated in his 48-page opinion.

Yes, I wholly agree that ballot stuffing does exist, but the big question is: would such a conspiratorial plot not amount to over voting, going by Asiedu Nketia’s unconventional definition of over voting?

If you may recollect, during the 2012 election petition hearing, Asiedu Nketia infamously referred to over voting as “the influx of foreign materials in the ballot box”.

Interestingly, however, Dr Afari-Gyan, the Electoral Commissioner back then, admitted under cross examination during the 2012 election petition hearing that over voting may also occur in the event of the votes in the ballot box exceeding the number of verified voters.

Dr Gyan’s definition, to me, is a poignant definition of over voting.

Well, whatever the case, I would like to believe that the 2012 election petition spawned enormous benefits, most notably, the eminent Supreme Court Judges pronouncement to the effect that elections are usually won at the polling stations and not in the court rooms.

Obviously, such pronouncement illuminated the then opposition NPP’s benightedness on the need to be more vigilant on future elections.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, the NPP leadership put in place perfect strategy. More importantly, the party loyalists and sympathisers were more vigilant before, during and after the 2016 election.

Take, for instance, we were told that the NPP leadership hired shrewd information technology personnel, gave bespoke training to their numerous polling station agents and motivated them, which resulted in motivation to transfer during the electoral process.

We also heard that in the Volta Region (the stronghold of the NDC), the NPP leadership strategically prevented non-Ghanaians from voting through their ‘Operation Eagle Eye.

Coincidentally, however, the Volta Region registered a very low voter turnout, and the NDC’s votes in the Volta Region reduced drastically compared to the previous elections.

Somehow, the trend continued in almost all the ten regions in Ghana. Thus, many NDC observers have been attributing the reason to voter apathy. But I, for one, would not buy such specious observation.

The fact of the matter, however, is that the NPP leadership played their cards right on that occasion through well-executed strategy and the all-important vigilance.

So, to the NDC sore losers: cease your needless political insobrieties and concentrate on winning elections at the polling stations rather than always banking all hopes on technological and behind the scenes gimmicks.