2015 year of high and missed expectations (Part one)

Joe Okyere & Abdul Aziz Politics Jan - 06 - 2016 , 23:23

The year 2015 was one of multiplicity of issues, with corruption issues and energy challenges (dumsor) dominating. The relatively peaceful political environment was occasionally punctured with series of demonstrations.

The year 2015 was ushered in by many Ghanaians making pledges and resolutions to move the country forward as well as improve the lot and the well-being of the people while keeping its democratic credentials intact.

January

In his New Year message on January 1, 2015, the President, John Dramani Mahama, asked Ghanaians not to lose hope because the year 2015 was the “year of turnaround’’as he was going to banish darkness in the year.

Ghanaians, therefore, started the year with high expectations as fuel prices went down by 10 per cent .

However, events were shortlived as in spite of the promise to end dumsor and calls for an end to corruption by the Catholic Bishops Conference, Dr Abu Sakara, a presidential hopeful of the Convention People’s Party CPP, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey, those problems persisted.

As a result of corruption, which the government was bent on bringing under control, the National Service Secretariat co-ordinator for the Suhum Municipality on January 5, 2015 committed suicide by hanging.

Mr Lambert Akansah was said to have been invited by the Bureau of National Investigations in Accra on December 29, 2014 for misappropriating GH¢7.9 million cedis.

With the Supreme Court’s ruling in August 2013 on the 2012 election petition and recommendations for electoral reforms by January 6, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) made the first call for a new voters register and this was followed by other calls from political parties and civil society organisations.

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, disagreed with Nana Akufo-Addo, saying his demand for a new voters register was at best unrealistic and at worst illogical.He explained that it was not a convention to replace the voters register after every decade.

By January 16, 2015, the need for reforms to take place, especially a compilation of a new voters register, and a change in the procedure for the appointment of a new Electoral Commissioner (EC) [as the tenure of office of the electoral boss, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan drew closer] took over the airwaves.

Following the calls, the EC announced on January 24 the constitution of a committee on electoral reforms.The EC took the step towards electoral reforms by the inauguration of the 10-member committee to examine all proposals it had received for changes to the electoral process in the country.

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP), which felt the minority parties were being given a raw deal in the composition of the committee, called for their inclusion in the committee. The party also called for the promotion of the spirit of reconciliation.

February
As early as February the deep cleavages in the NPP leadership started to rear its ugly head with a secret tape on which the Northern Regional Chairman of the party, Mr Bugri Naabu, was alleged to have said that the National Chairman and the General Secretary were working to prevent the flag bearer from becoming president.

Even though Mr Naabu denied that the voice on the tape was his the party leadership was immediately divided on how to handle the tape issue. While the first Vice-Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay, was of the opinion that it was waste of time to investigate the secret tape while the National Chairman, Mr Paul Afoko, and the second Vice Chairman, Mr Sammy Crabbe, on the other hand, were for full investigation.

It was, therefore, no wonder that getting to the end of the year 2015, the National Chairman, the General Secretary and the Second Vice were all suspended indefinitely while the first Vice Chairman became the acting National Chairman following the suspension of Mr Afoko.

March
On March 3 the Electoral Commission (EC) held a crunch meeting to discuss the way forward after the Supreme Court cancelled district level elections which had been slated for March 3.

The court’s decision followed a suit filed by a Winneba-based fisherman, Mr Benjamin Eyi Mensah, who went to court to challenge his disqualification based on a new law which came into force after the commission had closed nominations.

The botched assembly polls cost the nation 317 million Ghana cedis as the EC asked for another 90 million more to fix another date and run the elections.

March 6 marked the 58th anniversary of the country’s independence from British colonial rule. The President called on Ghanaians to use the occasion to bury religious and ethnic rivalries.

A renowned and respected Ghanaian academic and jurist, Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, said Ghana was on a sound track 58 years after independence, but admitted that several avoidable mistakes had been committed along the line citing politicisation of issues as the bane of the country’s development.

An Institute of Economic Affairs survey revealed that living conditions of Ghanaians were bad according to 1,200 households surveyed across the 10 regions in the country.

The acquittal and discharge of embattled businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, by an Accra Fast Track High Court over the GH¢51.2 million judgement debt attracted reactions across the political divide.

On March 12 businessman Woyome was freed by an Accra High Court after it held that the state had failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

‘’And in the instant case, I am of the considered opinion that the state prosecution had failed woefully to prove beyond all reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused person,” the trial judge, Mr Justice John Ajet Nasam, emphasised.

The same day the state indicated its intention to appeal against the acquittal and discharge of Mr Woyome.

“We disagree completely with the judgement of the court,’’ the Attorney General and and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marieta Brew Appiah-Oppong, said.

‘’We are applying for the judgement to study it carefully and appeal accordingly,‘’ she stated

April
The case spilled over to April and whether it was April Fool or not, on April 1, 2015, Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the businessman, who had been acquitted and discharged on two counts of defrauding and causing financial loss to the state, assured the Supreme Court that he would refund the 51.2 million cedis wrongly paid to him by the end of the year. That case was one of the typical corruption scandals to hit the nation.

The refund had not be done by the end of the 2015 and some three concerned Ghanaians filed a suit to compel the Attorney General to explain to Ghanaians mechanism put in place to recover the amount from the businessman and why it had failed to collect the amount of 51.2 million Ghana cedis wrongly paid to the businessman.

On the same April 1, the Electoral Commission signalled its intention to crack the whip on all registered political parties that did not observe the political parties regulations as it presented a provisional certificate to the 24th registered political party, the United Progressive Party (UPP)

On April 2, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) reverted its earlier decision to allow female MPs to go uncontested by male aspirants following internal party hue and cry over the decision.

Political parties urged the EC to crack the whip on parties which surfaced during elections only to fold up when the elections were over.

Also Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan hinted of his retirement.

As Easter got closer, the clergy never stopped reminding Ghanaians of the one positive aspect of the country, which was the prevailing peace.

The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, on April 6 lauded the IMF gesture to provide the country with a 918 million dollar bailout and called for hard work.

The same day the President was lauding the IMF for the bailout, the Veep was meeting security chiefs along the Gulf of Guinea urging them to collaborate to fight security challenges in the sub-region.

The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) on April 11 reported that dumsor cost the nation 924 million dollars in 2014.

To be continued

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