Editorial
Ghana’s democracy is the winner
After patiently waiting for the announcement by the Electoral Commission on the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections held on Monday, December 7, the results were officially declared by the Elections Management Body (EMB) in Ghana on Wednesday.
According to the Commission, the Presidential election was won by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with 51.3 per cent having clocked 6,730,587 number of votes cast. At the Parliamentary level, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) claimed to have clinched it with a slight majority of seats as against that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Events just before the declaration of the results were unpleasant because the NDC reiterated a number of times through press conferences that they had already won 140 seats in parliament to form the majority. This, as has been proven by the EC, was false because as of the time of that pronouncement, the party concerned had not won that number of seats to form parliamentary majority.
Meanwhile, both President Akufo-Addo of the NPP and the NDC presidential candidate, Mr John Mahama had committed themselves to a peace pact which demonstrated to Ghanaians and the world that they were prepared to promote peace before, during and after the elections.
It was, therefore, unfortunate that the NDC called on its supporters to jubilate because they had won majority of the seats in parliament. The party had earlier warned that they would resist any attempt by the EC to change the results in favour of anyone.
This caused unnecessary tension among Ghanaians who are committed to peace; for which reason some political analysts on radio and TV, appealed to Mr Mahama to desist from such pronouncements, and use constitutional means, based on available evidence, to seek redress.
Such pronouncements, to The Spectator, are divisive, dangerous, retrogressive and irresponsible and should, therefore, not be encouraged since it can lead to chaos and disturbances in various parts of the country.
Originally, the EC had announced its intention to declare the results 24 hours after voting. This was good since unnecessary delays could have been avoided to prevent tensions as had happened in some cases, in the past.
The EC rightly informed the general public that to ensure that the collation of results at the constituency and regional collation centres across the country was accurate; it had to extend its intended timeline for declaring the election results within 24 hours after voting, to a later time.
Though there were some pockets of violence in some parts of the country, generally, it would be right to say the EC has performed creditably well – seeing that its operations have been characterised by integrity, fairness and transparency.
There is no doubt that Ghana’s democracy is moving forward and that all Ghanaians should positively support the credentials we have established for ourselves, coming in a form of an enviable and admirable country that cherishes and promotes rule of law and freedom of expression as well as having established itself as a beacon of democracy to the admiration of the entire world.
Dear Editor,
I write to appeal to the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMTL) to put some of their buses on the Kasoa–Circle route to ease the challenges passengers face every day.
It might interest you to know that going to and from Kasoa is no child’s play. Sadly, it appears we have been left to our fate and at the mercy of greedy ‘trotro’ drivers who employ various tactics to extort money from passengers.
One of the means they usually employ is that at the station, they’ll tell passengers they are not going to Kasoa. However, when you join these vehicles, they take passengers to a point and start calling for new passengers to a different destination. It continues like that until they reach Kasoa. At all the new stops, they collect fresh fares from passengers.
So, it is not true that they are not going to Kasoa — the only reason they do that is to take more money from passengers.
By this behaviour, one ends up spending about GH¢20 for a journey that should cost around GH¢11, and the same amount on the return trip.
This behaviour also results in long queues at the stations at night, giving robbers and pickpockets a field day as they mingle with passengers struggling for transport and end up stealing from them.
I want to plead with the Metro Mass management to put buses on this route to reduce the inconvenience we go through after a day’s work.
The management could also devise ways to make their operations more convenient and reliable, and must consider setting specific times so that passengers would know when buses arrive and when they depart.
Kwesi Pino
Kasoa
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Dear Editor,
I write with deep concern about a safety hazard and the dangers commuters are exposed to, especially those who walk in the area at night.
Along one of the busy roads in the capital — the Neoplan Station stretch of the ‘Accra Dubai’ road — lie several culverts with their metal coverings removed, leaving behind gaping holes that endanger everyone who uses the stretch.
It is a danger to commuters who walk around the area. As a regular visitor to that area, I find it very disturbing. In fact, a gaze into the drain can make one feel dizzy — it is very deep.
These are very common sights from the Railway Crossing area to the Awudome Cemetery area, bringing to the fore the activities of scrap dealers who are mostly blamed for the disappearance of the coverings.
They are dangerous and easy to miss. Children walking to school, the elderly, and even motorists risk serious injury if nothing is done.
This is not just a matter of inconvenience; it is a matter of life. We have seen too many cases where a simple oversight leads to irreversible harm.
A child could fall in. A motorcyclist could swerve and crash. A pedestrian could be injured in the dark. These are preventable tragedies, and we must treat them as urgent.
We cannot wait for disaster before we act. I urge the relevant authorities to inspect such areas, replace missing covers, and prioritise public safety. A simple fix today could save a life tomorrow. Let’s not look away — let’s fix what’s broken before it breaks someone.
Kelvin Acheampong
Dansoman
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