Ghana Opposition Meets Friday to Chart Way Forward

A leading member of Ghana’s main
opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP)
says the National Council of the group
plans to meet Friday following the
Supreme Court’s ruling that President
John Dramani Mahama was “validly
elected.”
“The party will be having first the
steering committee in the morning,
which will translate into a national
executive council meeting, and
obviously to the highest body of the
party, which is the national council, will
be meeting [Friday] to give our official
response to the case,” said Dominic
Nitiwul. “…it was the national council
that gave the authority to the petitioners
in the first place to go to court.”
In a 5-4 decision, the nine-member
Supreme Court upheld Mr. Mahama’s
victory in the country’s 2012
presidential election. The opposition
petitioned the court to annul the
presidential vote, citing alleged voter
irregularities.
On Thursday, the NPP said it would not
seek a review of the Supreme Court
ruling.
“We disagreed strongly, but accept the
verdict, and ask the people of Ghana to
move this nation forward and unite
behind the president …,” said Nitiwul.
“We want our supporters to remain calm
and united and we will re-organize
ourselves for 2016 [general election].”
Nitiwul, who is also the deputy minority
leader in parliament, says opposition
parliamentarians will begin cooperating
with the government when the legislative
body returns from recess on October 20.
Legislators from the NPP had refused to
deal with the presidency until the
Supreme Court ruled on the party’s
petition challenging the validity of
President Mahama’s electoral victory.
Some NPP members boycotted Mr.
Mahama’s state of the nation address
and the parliamentary review of his
cabinet nominees.
But, Nitiwul says members of his team
will now work together with the
administration to address the challenges
facing the country.
“Our refusal to work on certain aspects
of our parliamentary duties was
conditioned on the case at the Supreme
Court,” said Nitiwul. “It’s ended and we
will be meeting on Monday as a caucus,
but I can tell you that we will obviously
start cooperating, as a matter of
principle.”
Some critics have accuse the NPP of
claiming elections are fraudulent when
the party loses and valid when they win.
Nitiwul disagreed.
“People may have misunderstood the
NPP if they make those allusions and
those statements, because the NPP as a
party will always go to court or
complain when they feel there is a
problem,” said Nitiwul.
On the other hand, Nitiwul said “If the
NPP loses elections fair and square,”
the party “will respect that as
democrats.”
Meanwhile, in his first address to the
country following the court’s ruling,
President Mahama promised to work
with other opposition parties to ensure
the country’s unity.
"The Supreme Court’s decision is a
confirmation that Ghana is a stable
democracy and an example of free and
fair elections for all African nations,”
said Mahama. “Now, it is time to look
into the future… I urge all political forces
to put aside their differences and to
work together so everyone will lead a
better life. We all have a duty to the
people to work so our country remains
united.”

Ghana opposition leader NANA AKUFO ADDO