A Successful Ejisu By-Election

The Ejisu by-election is now history. The constituents were called upon last Tuesday to find a replacement for John Kumah, who died in very shocking circumstances.

Lawyer Kwabena Boateng, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate emerged victorious after Kwabena Aduomi, a member of Alan’s Butterfly Movement, who contested as an independent candidate gave him a run for his money.

The by-election did not pass without controversy following allegations that the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso tried to bribe two Electoral Commission (EC) officials. Despite the decision of the EC to investigate the reports and the denial by the MP, a section of the media, civil society and the NDC have taken the EC to the cleaners for attempts to rig the election in favour of the NPP candidate.

The NDC and its media allies were not interested in the peaceful outcome of the by-election, but made a mountain out of the isolated infractions.

We are worried about the narratives on Election Day in December if a section of the media, especially the so-called independent media are not checkmated by the National Media Commission (NMC) to avoid being used as megaphones of war.

We are convinced that these media houses and the NDC would fail in their attempt to create chaos in order to prepare the grounds for losers to dispute the outcome of the December polls. These characters and their allies in the rescue mission tried it in Ejisu but failed. They threw their weight behind Alan’s man, Kwabena Aduomi, but he lost in his desperate attempt to return to power. The discerning people of Ejisu read in between the lines, albeit very late, that Kwabena Aduomi is not just a Butterfly Man but an agent of the NDC.

We appeal to the EC to reinforce its “Let the Citizen Know” series in order to set the agenda for Election 2024. There are some elects in the country, especially NDC supporters who want to discredit the Jean Mensa-led EC without basis.

Maybe the NDC and its allies see the signs on the wall and for which reason they must start shouting wolf when sheep are playing around. Rather unfortunately, the allies of NDC are looking while John Mahama and Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang engage in a jamboree at the UPSA auditorium to repackage a “product” that failed to delight the electorate in 2020. It would be helpful to ask Professor Opoku-Agyemang what her campaign platform was in 2020 and what it would be in 2024.

And would it be different from the reality of a Minister of Education from 2013 to 2016 during which she denied teachers chalk, cancelled teacher trainees allowances, paid teachers who had worked for three years, three months pay, directed heads of senior high schools (SHSs) to collect electricity bills from parents and advised John Mahama to sponsor over 40 advertisements against the free SHS?

Former President Mahama, if your campaign is finding it difficult to stand on solid ground, don't look for a public official like Jean Mensa to blame. She would declare the legitimate winner, who represents the will of the people the winner of the December 7, 2024 polls.

John Mahama just tell us what exactly you would be doing differently if voted into power again to avoid the repeat of those unpardonable “sins” of your tenure as President. Just be ready to contend with Jean Mensa, and if you want to be declared winner of the 2024 polls, work harder than you are doing now to avoid another tsunami coming your way and that of the opposition NDC.