2012 Elections Ghana - The propagandists propping up the image of the President, usually refer to Prof. John Evans Atta Mills as 'Asomdweehene' (Prince of Peace). But everywhere around him, there are preparations for war. The weekend incident at Cape Coast, where former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and her entourage were locked out of the Cape Coast Town Hall by hoodlums, obviously on the advice of party gurus in the Central Region, tells much about what is likely to happen in the campaign leading to the 2012 presidential and legislative vote.

With the economy in shambles, and most Ghanaians reduced to paupers, the odds are heavily weighed against the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its flagbearer. It is one fact which might not have been lost on the leadership of the party. That is why The Chronicle is alarmed at the development in the Central Regional capital over the weekend.

If hoodlums, goaded on by party agents, could physically prevent the wife of the founder of the party from entering a hall, paid for by her agents, then indications are that these hoodlums could become even more dangerous tools in the hands of very desperate people.

Throughout the country, evidence abounds about the failure of the Atta Mills administration. It is one fact that is uncontestable. With prices of goods and services rising without control, people's incomes are unable to meet their demands. That is not all. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who have no means of livelihood.

Meanwhile, agents of the regime talk as if the leadership of the regime is in no rush to handover. The President himself, speaks of a wanting second term in office.

On the other hand, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) scents the blood of victory, making the 2012 presidential and legislative campaign potentially, one of the fiercest in the history of this nation.

The Chronicle is worried that the Cape Coat incident could be replicated in its worst form throughout the country, especially, when the police appear to be incapable of resolving issues in which the ruling party has interests. We are inviting stakeholders to be interested in getting the police to abandon their lukewarm attitude to this very serious and dangerous development on the political terrain.

Since the return of the NDC to Government House, there have been numerous violations of state security involving members and supporters of the ruling party, without the police taking the necessary action.

From the murder of three NPP sympathisers at the Agbobloshie Market in January 2009, through the incident involving a four-wheel drive vehicle, of which the women's organiser of the NDC, Ms. Anita De Soosoo, was the owner, ploughed through a human wall of NPP sympathisers at Abomosu, in the Eastern Region, during the Atiwa bye-elections, to the Cape Coast lockout at the weekend, the police appeared powerless to act.

The Chronicle is of the view that these incidents foretell the very likelihood of the ruling party resorting to some form of violence if the going gets tough in 2012. Unfortunately, evidence emerging does not support any serious intervention by the men and women in the black uniform, when the chips are down.

That is why The Chronicle is inviting civil society organisations and all political parties to interest themselves in a dialogue to ensure that the playing field is really made level before the serious business of campaigning for political power in 2012 begins.

We have heard politicians pointing accusing fingers at the media, as the likely source of conflict in the run-up to the elections, usually citing the radio station in Rwanda that plunged the country into civil war and the slaughter of the Tutsis.

In Ghana, emerging evidence indicates that if the NDC and its hoodlums are not brought to order, they would disturb the peace we have enjoyed since the era of colonialism.

Ghanaian Chronicle/21/09/2011