There will be no civil war in Ghana - Majority Leader replies Boakye Gyan

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has hit back at Major Osahene Boakye Gyan for threatening a civil war in the country over the legal mandate of the Electoral Commission (EC) to compile a new voter’s register.

Major Osahene Boakye Gyan (rtd) warned of impending doom should the EC connive with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the upcoming December polls.

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Programme on Tuesday, Osahene Boakye Gyan claimed the EC, having a desire to rig the 2020 elections with the tacit assistance of the ruling NPP, is hell-bent on having a new register.

"This party (NPP) won power with the biggest electoral margin; so what has gone wrong?...this morning, I overheard an NPP activist on radio claiming if elections are held today, Nana Addo will be re-elected with some one million, three hundred thousand votes difference. See, the NPP has cooked up the figures already, they are simply looking for the means to legitimize their rigging by undertaking a registration exercise (through the EC)....," he alleged.

The former military capo sounded a note of caution by pointing out that most electoral disputes in Africa have resulted in civil wars and Ghana is not immune to it, and further warned that "should the EC continue to toe the line of their paymasters, it will certainly spell doom for this country."

"... it is political motivation that led to the dismissal of Madam Jean Mensah as the EC Chairperson by the current administration. They want to beef up the numbers so they can win simply because they don't have confidence in their winning numbers, otherwise, they won't tamper with it...But more importantly...post-independence Africa, all crises and civil wars have been on the back of disputed electoral results. What they are doing now, they are driving us into a civil war and if they want it, they will get it," he screamed.

Commenting on the issue on Ade Akye Abia's Thursday Show, the Majority Leader of Parliament dismissed the former military officer's threat.

“...from our University days, we have accorded him with respect because we saw him as a principled person...this I'm being careful with my choice of words...I strongly disagree with his comments. He got it wrong; there will be no civil war in the country”, he said rather charitably.

He, however, wondered why Major Boakye Gyan could take offence at an NPP activist"s claims that the ruling party will win the next elections by some 1.3 million votes.

“When we are about to go for the 2016 polls, the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said they are winning the election by a huge margin because they have about 3 million people, voters, somewhere...After saying that, did the NDC lose the election? So, if someone says he is a researcher and so NPP will win the next election by 1.3 million, that person is not God, neither is his mouth a gun....," Hon Kyei Mensah Bonsu stated.