Former President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been challenged by the Majority Leader of Parliament to produce hard core evidence to buttress their claim that they won the December 7 general elections.
Addressing the opening of the 24th Sitting of the Fourth Session of the Seventh Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu pointed out to the opposition party and its leader that until they are able to convincingly show why they won the elections, they have no basis to declare themselves winners.
Since the declaration of the results of the December 7 polls, which saw President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo securing more than 50 per cent of the votes cast to emerge the winner, Mr Mahama and the NDC have continuously accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of fraudulently declaring Nana Akufo-Addo as the winner.
Mr Mahama insists he is not ready to concede defeat because of the over six million Ghanaian voters who voted for him.
“In the interest of the more than six million people who voted for me, I must uphold our democracy and hold our Electoral Commission to higher standards and hold this government to higher standards in terms of democracy… the way they’ve conducted this election, the government and the Electoral Commission, is a dent to our democratic credentials…” Mahama told VOA’s Peter Clottey in an interview.
Proof
But, according to Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, merely accusing the EC of manipulating the election results is not enough.
“Mr Speaker, a political party that insists that it won the elections must have in its hands pink sheets, but if you do not have the pink sheets and it is now that you have sent emissaries out there to collect and gather pink sheets, on what basis do you declare yourself as winner?” he asked.
“The people who want to stand on the foundation of truth should be equipped with evidence of truthfulness before they make proclamations,” he added.
He was responding to a statement by the Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, to the effect that the NDC still had some doubt about the outcome of the December polls, as declared by the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa.
Expressing concern over some unfortunate incidents that had characterised the polls, Mr Iddrisu had said he had personally been in Techiman and had not been pleased with what he observed.
He told the House that an electoral officer in Techiman could not make available to a political party the results that were declared by the EC.
He said it should not happen in a multi-party constitutional democracy that a returning officer or a district office of the EC could claim that his copy of the declared results of elections got burnt.
Congratulations
Earlier, the Speaker, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, had congratulated members of the House who sailed through the elections, and consoled those who could not make it, wishing them better luck next time.
He urged members to cooperate with one another to ensure a successful end to the Seventh Parliament.
He informed the House that the President would deliver a message on the State of the Nation prior to the dissolution of the House, in fulfilment of Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution.
The House did not record full attendance, as a number of MPs failed to show up. Also conspicuously empty was the Fomena seat, previously occupied by Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah.
His absence was as a result of the Speaker’s declaration of the seat vacant, following a request by the NPP to the House.