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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

James Baldwin in 1932 wrote that “we can manage without butter but not, for example, without guns. If we are attacked, we can only defend ourselves with guns, not butter.

Previous Police unauthorized action at Akwatia.

In 1997, some police officers from Accra went to Akwatia Township without authorization. They did not report their presence to the Police Command at Akwatia. They went to houses of some gold and diamond winners, seized their stock and in some cases extorted money from them. Word went round town and the winners regrouped and launched an attack to retrieve their “goods”. In the process one policeman and a diamond winner lost their lives.

Baba Jamal and NDC Government reaction to the people's attempt to defend themselves

Baba Jamal and the NDC brought in the military and the Police who laid siege on Akwatia Township. It was code-named “operation destroy everything movable”. All men and even school boys were not spared. Stores were looted by the rampaging Police men and women. The Town became a ghost town because virtually all the males fled. An in-law who was a sub-chief had to scale the wall of his compound into the bush in his shorts without shirt. He trekked through the bush until he reached another town where he reported his predicament to the chief who gave him a shirt. Two of my brothers had to run out of the town. But one wasn't that lucky for he fell into the hands of the marauding occupied forces who gave him the beating of his life. He never recovered from such a horrific experience and passed away a few years later.

Those who were caught were beaten up, tortured and sent to Accra where on daily basis, they were made to lie on their backs with their eyes facing the sun and made to sing profane songs. Quite a few did not make it while others got severe eye defects.

Those mostly affected were the Muslims. “Operation destroy everything moveable” commenced at dawn. The police vehicles were placed at the entrance to the mosque so there was no escape route for any of the male worshippers. My heart bleeds and my eyes are always filled with tears anytime I remember that incident. Even as I write I am finding it extremely difficult to keep back my tears for as I have already stated, I lost a brother through the callousness of the Police personnel who took part in the operation.

NDC futile attempts to foist Baba Jamal on the people of Akwatia.

Twelve years later, a similar, even worst scenario is being replayed before our very eyes. I had planned to be at Akwatia to show solidarity with Dr. Kofi Asare, the NPP Parliamentary candidate, but calls from friends and a notable NDC activist, a long time family friend advised against my going. Initially, I brushed aside their concerns and like Julius Caesar, vowed to storm the town. But graphic picture painted by the NDC activist put a break to my plans. I saw horrifying pictures of Akwatia under siege on TV3 station on Sunday evening. And as we already know, pictures don't lie.

The blood of every Ghanaian is very precious. None is not more precious than the other. Very many Ghanaians were massacred in Sierra Leone, but all that we got was a little compensation for only six of the victims and the NDC is taking credit for a process which was initiated by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo under the NPP administration.

The NDC has made political issue of the unfortunate death of Issa Mobila and the Ya Na and some of this followers. Such deaths were regrettable and my sympathies go to their respective families. But as I said, no Ghanaian blood is better and more precious than another. And that is why the Government of the day should do whatever it can within to prevent any such future occurrence.

With nearly one thousand policemen and soldiers at Akwatia, how was it possible for macho men to unleash such violence on NPP supporters? The NPP sympathizers have provided graphic details of the violence that was visited on them and their vehicles. Baba Jamal, his National Chairman and the Deputy Minister of Interior claim the police fired tear gas on them. I am calling on the international community to intervene before the situation degenerates into something else.

TV 3 gives us graphic details of violence at Akwatia.

I saw and heard our General Secretary complaining bitterly at the non-challant attitude of Policemen who looked the other way as our men were being molested on Tv3 ON Sunday evening. Let Parliament set up a committee to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the Akwatia violence with a view to taking up stern measure against perpetrators of such action. The TV3 camera captured gory pictures of some youth wielding dangerous weapons like machetes, sticks while others were throwing stones. If the NDC and the Mills administration claim they did not orchestrate the violence, they should, as a matter of fact, identify all those captured on tape and deal with them to act as deterrent to others.

NPP's under attack by rampaging mob.
Now, we of the New Patriotic Party have been pushed to the wall. We have been battered and bruised. There appears to be no escape route. And in line with what James Baldwin said that, if we are attacked, we can only defend ourselves with guns, not butter.

But we are not going to do that, because we are democrats. We believe in Due process. Since the coming to power of the NDC, the NPP as a party has been at the receiving end of everything. Go to Tamale, Gushiegu, Agbogbloshie, BNI Headquarters in Accra, and Akwatia being the latest. In all these places, the story is always the same. Our members are being hunted down and preyed upon like what happened to Piggy and others in “Lord of the Flies”.

Last Thursday when sympathizers and those who believed in democracy went to the Headquarters of the BNI to demand why Asabee was being detailed without charges the Police fired live ammunition into the few crowd gathered. They also fired canisters of tear gas not into the skies but into the crowd. In the process, one of them was alleged to have suffocated to death a few minutes after the demonstration.

The Police seized the body from the family with the excuse of carrying out an autopsy before the body could be released for burial. Which pathologist is going to conduct the autopsy? The Police cannot used their own to do the post mortem. The Police, the Family, the Muslim Community together with the Leadership of AFAG must all be involved in the selection of a pathologist to perform the autopsy. This is in line with standard procedure. Anything short of this is unacceptable and the result will not be fair to all the parties

Ghana Police under Acheampong as against the Police under Mills and the NDC. Continued    Source: Daniel Danquah Damptey

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