<<Print>>

The General Secretary of the People�s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah has stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its 2012 Presidential candidate, John Mahama genuinely won the 2012 general election. �We all know that John Dramani Mahama and the NDC won the 2012 elections genuinely.� Addressing a public forum in Tamale organised by the Coalition of Ghanaian Voters (COGVO), a civil society group formed to educate Ghanaians on ways to protect their votes, Mr. Mornah urged the main opposition, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to accept defeat. He said: �What the NPP needs to do is to accept defeat just as Kufuor did in 1996 and later campaigned vigorously to win the 2000 and 2004 elections.� According to him, the Supreme Court under the current Constitution does not have the Constitutional backing to declare anybody President of the country adding that the Electoral Commission (EC) was the only Constitutional body mandated under Ghana�s 1992 Constitution to conduct and declare presidential elections and advised Ghanaians to allay fears that the on-going 2012 Election petition could be declared to favour the petitioners. The forum, which was on the theme: �Respect my vote and give Ghana peace� have members from some political parties including the NDC, PNC, United Front Party (UFP) and other civil society groups and was also meant to preach peace messages to Ghanaians to remain peaceful during and after the court ruling. Key members of the coalition include, Dr Clement Apak, formerly with the Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ), Mr Kofi Wayo, Bernard Mornah, Chris Ackummey and Akwasi Addai Odike of the United Front Party (UFP). He said Ghana was enjoying peace and accused the petitioners of trying to make the country ungovernable saying, �we were all in Ghana when membership of the petitioners promised �Afghanistan� in Ghana if they failed to win the 2012 elections and this is what we are experiencing today.� Dr Clement Apak, a leading member of the coalition said: �It is unjust, unfair and wicked for the petitioners to call for the cancellation of more than four million votes and declare the first petitioner, Nana Addo- Dankwa Akufo- Addo winner�. He pointed out that President Mahama, regardless of his ethnic background and tribe also deserved to rule the country and that the President winning eight of the 10 regions was a manifestation that the electorate had confidence in the NDC and its candidate. He claimed that the petitioners were acting in bad faith since their public claim that the EC had stolen some votes from the NPP and had given it to President John Mahama could not be proved at the on-going hearing at the Supreme Court. Dr. Apak also stressed that the NDC genuinely won the 2012 elections and called on the NPP to accept defeat to let peace prevail in the country and that the court case was a waste of the nation�s resources and time.