“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi
Confusion in Ablekuma North election results, December 2024. The Electoral Commission could not announce the results. For six months, the good people in Ablekuma North had no representation. You would wonder whether it was going to be like SALL – Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, Likpe – with no representation in the 8th Parliament, after the formation of the new Oti Region, and in Suit No. J6/01/2020 entitled Valentine Edem Dzaste v Henry Ametefe and 5 ors, the Supreme Court had ruled “… Cl 95 is inconsistent with Article 47 (2) of the Constitution to the extent that the traditional areas of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe which fall within the Oti Region are stated to be part of the Hohoe Constituency which is in the Volta Region and to the extent of that inconsistency Cl 95 is unconstitutional…’’
The Ablekuma North Constituency fell into limbo when challenges were thrown at the Electoral Commission over the authenticity of pink sheets and the collation process after the December 2024 election.
In Parliament, the E.C. official had said only 3 polling stations had a problem.
With 49% turn-out, 10th December 2024, the E.C. announced Akua Afriyie had won the election. On 20th December 2024, the E.C. announced that the results were announced under duress.
Then the Electoral Commission announced a re-run of 19 polling stations out of the 281 polling stations. A certiorari application seeking a declaration that the E. C’s decision to conduct a re-run in the 19 polling stations is in violation of the January 4 High Court Order and constitutes an arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, and wrongful use of discretionary powers…. prohibit the E.C. from proceeding with the re-run… an order compelling the E.C. to comply with the January 4 directive… and an injunction restraining the E.C. from conducting the re-run, Justice Ali Baba Abature dismissed the application as unmeritorious: “The respondent as an extension of the executive arm of government, would be in a position to adequately compensate the applicant in damages should Afriyie win the substantive case”.
Then, the NPP/NDC issued an order to boycott the re-run! NPP afraid of Awoshie, Busia Junction, Odorkor … NPP’s stronghold?
24 hours before the elections, Nana Akua Afriyie defied the NPP NEC directives; she went on a door-to-door campaign; on lack of unity, lack of direction an indication that all was not well. The boycott directive assisted in dampening the spirit, energy and enthusiasm of the electorate. What evidence of development strategy can NPP point at? For NDC, it was simply “me try, ma hwe.”
And the violence? mayhem, brutalities, atrocities. Wham! a senior Police Officer Chief Superintendent Lumor delivers a left hook to a journalist; other security officers rough up two innocent journalists. Then, Hawa Koomson ‘Kasoa Van Damme’ who had lost her Awutu Senya East seat to NDC’s Phyllis Naa KoryooOkunnor by 46,638 to 50,886 was the next victim. When we were young we would call a termagant “Twa mu a eta bon” (She who passes and you smell flatulence). Perhaps she wanted to demonstrate to all and sundry that she was still the “tough” guy quite unlike “soft” Bryan Acheampong who had his hands behind him and addressing the “gathering” including NPP supporters to mellow and leave the cordoned-off perimeter as ordered by the police.
A man in smock sprang like a cougar or a leopard to knock Auntie Hawa down. She could not immediately use the pepper spray in her handbag.
Hannah Bissiw, NDC’s Women Organiser was not sympathetic: “if you live by the sword you die by the sword.” In her own words, Hawa Koomson “deserves it… I don’t feel sorry one bit.” Of course, that should sound like our childhood days; “ate ka – ate ka” or the story of “Ananseyem’ na me nso me yen!”
Exodus 21:23-26 states (just like Hammurabi’s Code) “But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe”. That is the “Lex talionis (law of retaliation).
Where were the NPP vigilante around the NPP big men and women? A self-acclaimed Chairman of the disbanded NPP vigilante group, Delta Force, came out to celebrate the NPP’s recent misfortunes, in particular the violent disturbances of Ablekuma North Parliamentary re-run. Why? Betrayal and ungratefulness: “We sacrificed our lives to secure power for the NPP in 2016. But when the party won, they turned their back on us.
We were arrested, prosecuted and remanded … The NPP has not seen anything yet … “Without trying to make any allusions, we go and re-read the Chronicle of Friday July, 11, 2025 : “A 53-year oldbusinessman , Seth Otupri Ntim is facing criminal charges before the Dansoman Circuit Court for allegedly stealing
GH¢14.5m from two bank accounts belonging to Sontim Group Limited, a construction firm financially backed by the late Member of Parliament for Ejisu, John Ampontuah Kumah … Sontim Group Limited was established in 2016 through the initiative of Joyce Kumah and was entirely financed by her brother, John Kumah…” and we say “No comment.”
What has happened to the perpetrators of the violence at Akwatia, Atiwa (where Akufo-Addo remarks: “Atiwakoraayekyeree won biribikakra”), Talensi, Techiman South, Chereponi, Ayawaso West Wuogon (where NDC’s Sam George was openly seen being harassed by masked men said to be operatives of the National Security).
In whose interest did the government’s White Paper “rubbish” the Emile Short Report.
Nana Akua Afriyie pleads “apology” for not listening to the NPP bosses to boycott the election at Ablekuma North. And Akwatia is waiting — this time a bye-electron to get someone to replace the deceased MP, Ernest Kumi.
Prof. Agyekum and Prof. Bampoe want the NDC to simply “dash” the seat to the NPP by not contesting. But Hon. Dafeamekpo says “even the sea enjoys being filled by more rain”. What would make NDC happier than win the Akwatia seat in addition to the 184 they now have?
And who is floating the idea of “top-down” electing the flagbearer of the NPP, before the selection of national, regional, and constituency executives, a blatant departure from the UP tradition. How do we involve the grassroots? So now, NPP does not preach “consensus building “. Boakye Agyarko sees this as “strategically unsound, politically indefensible and organizationally reckless”. Kennedy Agyapong thinks “There is nothing wrong with the system that we have now. It’s because we created monsters in the party. You bring it from the top again; we are going to create another monster”.
Ex-President Kufour should not lament being sidelined by the party: “If this party still has elders … I am one … Have I deteriorated to the point where, after being fed, I’d claim I haven’t eaten … my mind and memory are intact…” He has more followers than he can dream of: who does not see through the rebuttal by the NPP General Secretary, Justin Koduah who will be advised to rebuild the NPP to the level it was when he took over.
He should spare the two aides: Araba Bosompem and Adu Acheampong, Young Justin should learn this Shakespearan truth (King Lear): “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child and learn also from Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”, and Kufuor was given the appellation ‘Gentle Giant’ in his heyday.
