Ghana Elections: NPP boycotts Tain decider
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is boycotting the run-off at Tain, but the Electoral Commission (EC) says it is going on with the elections.
The NPP Thursday sought a court injunction to stop the EC from declaring the results of the election, but the Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Amoako Asante ordered the NPP to come to court by motion on notice. The court therefore, ordered the plaintiffs to serve the EC and the NDC as parties in the case to enable them appear before it. The decision of the court effectively is a rejection of the NPP’s request for the court to withhold the results of the election, after it was held.
Political analysts saw the legal move by the NPP as an attempt to scuttle any chance of holding the election in Tain, which would decide the winner of Ghana Elections 2008.
Thursday evening January 1, 2009, it became clear the NPP was intent on frustrating any chance of the elections going ahead in Tain. The party has cancelled all political activities in the area in the run up to the elections. A scheduled rally to be addressed by President J. A. Kufuor Thursday evening was cancelled and all party officials have withdrawn from the area.
Speaking to the media, the Communications Director of the Akufo-Addo campaign, Dr. Arthur Kennedy said the NPP does not think there should be an election in the area because “we think the environment there is not conducive for an election.”
In his view, the conditions in Tain are prone to violence and a free and fair election could not take place there.
He was emphatic as he says “we hope there will not be an election and if there is one, we will not take part.”
Correspondents in Tain tell ghanabusinessnews.com that NPP activists have left the area by Thursday evening.
But the EC says, however, that it is going ahead to organize the election in Tain, because it has not received any court order not to do so.
As a result of the virtual invasion of Tain by political activists, business is booming in the once quiet and virtually unknown area.
Hotel owners and food vendors are making big sales unprecedented in the history of the area.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi