SPORTSMANSHIP, TRAVEL ALERTS AND ELECTION PETITIONS.

Heads or tails, Ghana wins.

The final whistle just sounded, your favourite team has won the trophy, but after a very gruelling game you can’t or must not celebrate because it will offend the opposing teams’ supporters.

This is the situation the victors will have to contend with, that is if you can compare Ghana’s historic election petition to a heated football derby. As the date; August 29^th draws closer and hinging on whether the Judicial Services call-off their strike scheduled for the 27^th, everyone from hip-life artistes, pastors and even “politricksians” (the main source of the tensions) have added their two pesewas to the call for peace often entreating supporters of the various parties to be measured in their actions and inactions on that day.

It is an open secret that the main protagonists in the hearing will never come to blows themselves so most of the efforts at lowering tensions have been aimed at their party sympathizers. Like a Champions League final the players will never fight at full time but rather a half-wit somewhere in the “third world” would either run-over opposing fans with his car or cause harm to himself.

My team will be playing that day; my beloved Couch Party, we are the team comprised of individuals that don’t get actively involved in the game (politricks) but will always be there or thereabouts; sort of like my beloved Arsenal. I can hear your mind screaming “but if you don’t vote, people will decide for you”, to that I say why should I bother when the value is always going to be the same (sort of like how in Egypt they traded Mubarak for Morsi and now they are stuck with the army).

Justice Atuguba

I enjoyed the chutzpah displayed by Justice Atuguba when he gave the political class in Ghana a “hair-dryer” that SIR (Alex not John) would be proud of given that it was done in full glare of the whole country.

They (the political class) are so adept at manipulating their followers to the extent that at times it seems like mind control. These so-called followers literally don’t have a pesewa to their name and often struggle to put their children through a free education Junior High School whilst the same ruling class messes up the educational system and fly their spawn to “paradise” for education.

We live in times where we have become so scared of words like “war” to the extent that a harmless game such as “tug of war” is called “tug of peace” and now you can’t watch TV without seeing a message about peace and rightly so. Ghana is surrounded by neighbors who have been through this experience and it was not pleasant, in effect; GHANAIANS DON’T WANT TO BE REFUGEES!  Tensions are rising; the sort of tension a football fan will feel before kick-off whilst lounged on his couch.

And whilst Ghana is about to sneeze, the U.S. have already caught a cold and issued their now customary travel-alert. Some Ghanaians are offended by this and wonder why Ghana didn't issue a travel alert when the Tsarnaev’s were on the rampage in Boston or when the towers fell on September 11. 

I don’t want to predict what will happen that day but come what may, there might be vigorous, overzealous celebrations from the winners and the losers won’t take it lightly and it might all boil over. But just as with the election that lead to this petition and with most elections I can remember, the sensible Ghanaians will always outnumber the very few, slow, gullible ones and peace will always prevail in my motherland.   

In Egypt, the revolution didn't work so well; so maybe Ghana will blaze the trail with this election petition which-ever way it goes. I hope the Couch Party wins though.