With peace, caution and steadiness, Ghanaians were more than half way through 2012 when the inexplicable events that would remain on the minds of the living and the unborn generations began occurring.
The first amongst the 3 was the “untimely” death of our former President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills which occurred on the 24th July,2012. Another “black Tuesday” in the history of Ghana.
On this day and the rest that followed, Ghana was thrown into a state of mourning due to the demise of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and everything came to a halt including political campaigns.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ; the flag bearer for the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and Prof.’s main contender was in the Western Region of Ghana campaigning but had to put everything on hold as a sign of respect and love for the late President.
Other Presidential candidates and political parties did not exclude themselves from this.
However life was back to normal after several weeks of mourning where people who had “never” shed tears in their lives did more than anyone could ask for.
As if the Ex-President’s death was not enough, Ghana was hit by another disaster; a 6-storey Achimota Melcom Shopping Centre building on Wednesday November 7, 2012 colapsed with lives and property destroyed.
Again, all campaigns and activities had to be suspended to console Ghanaians who were in grief.
For instance, President John Mahama was in the Northern region campaigning on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) which had chosen him to lead the party into the 2012 elections after the death of Prof. Atta Mills. He had to rush to Accra to play his role as a “father” taking care of Ghana leaving his campaign which was gradually picking up.
Other candidates as usual were not left out. Dr. Abu Sakara; Presidential Candidate for the Convention People’s Party, visited the scene, prayed and asked Ghanaians to pray for the victims.
Nana Addo again suspended his campaign tour, this time in the Volta Region and donated GHC ¢10,000 for the upkeep of victims on admission at the 37 military hospital and other ones.
After some weeks, it looked like the sky was clear for serious business to begin but there were other dark and heavy clouds hanging somewhere waiting for the Melcom event dust to settle before pouring down.
On a dull Friday morning, 16th November,2012, Ghanaians had to brace themselves up for weeks of mourning and wailing again. The news of the passing away of its former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama broke and it was unbearable.
Once more, Presidential hopefuls were called to duty no matter where they were in the country and the tempo of their campaign. The President, John Dramani Mahama returned to Accra from the Brong Ahafo Region where he was campaigning in order to mourn with Ghanaians.
Being very busy in the Eastern region, Nana Akufo-Addo however suspended and postponed all his political activities until further notice.
All these events had some rippling effects on the 2012 general elections. For some, these tragedies allowed certain politicians to build their image around salient issues ahead of the elections but others shared different views.
Other Ghanaians believe that, these tragic events halted their campaigns which had gathered momentum and looked very promising suddenly grinded to a halt and could not find their rhythm again.
If the above had some impact, Ghanaians will be thankful to God for a peaceful outcome of the 2012 elections though there remain a few rough edges that need to straightened by Ghana’s Supreme Court.
Ushering in 2013, Ghanaians will not wish for a repetition of anything evil that occured in 2012.
