Political parties are overseeing constitutional hooliganism - Lecturer

A Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Evans Aggrey Darko, says there is a dangerous constitutional hooliganism in the country.

He said people in the various political parties have become so obsessed with power that they are determined to do anything including murder “just so they can advance certain parochial interests within our parties.”

Dr. Darko was discussing the murder of the Upper East regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Adams Mahama, on Joy FM and MultiTV’s news and current affairs programme, Newsfile Saturday.

Some unknown assailants, midnight Wednesday doused Mr. Adams Mahama with acid leading to his death a few hours later at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital.

The motive for the murder is unknown but only last week, there was a violent confrontation in the Upper East Region which resulted in the scuttling of a planned meeting between the party National chairman and general secretary and other regional executives of the party.

Adams Mahama had indicated he was not aware of the planned meeting and wondered why the two national executives will organise a party meeting in his region, with his executives and would not inform him about it.

Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyepong were said to have lodged an assault complaint with the Upper East police but also indicated that Adams Mahama was well aware of the meeting.

The controversy caused a bit of a stir in the party and was being investigated by the party until Wednesday night's acid attack on the late chairman.

One of the two suspects, Gregory Afoko, who is said to be a brother to Paul Afoko is in police grips.

The news about the death of the party chairman has left many shocked and has also led to some attacks especially in the Upper East Region.

Commenting on the issue, Dr. Aggrey Darko said, “if you look at the NPP and the (governing) NDC and all the other political parties in this country, there is some measure of what I call constitutional hooliganism taking place; parties even when they win political power…they think that at once, all the resources of the state must be transferred to that particular political party so we have seen power as the ultimate prize that must be sought.”

He said the opposition party is grappling with the problems it has because of suspicions; “any move by anybody is interpreted to mean that other actors within the party are being undermined.”

According to him, the NPP must realize that it has a responsibility to the Ghanaian people to offer alternative views on how the country should be governed.

“If they go to sleep, we will have what I call monarchical executive; we need a countervailing force within the state and one of the critical countervailing forces will be an opposition which is virile, and which is also credible and which has the capacity of putting government on its toes; you can only do that when you yourself have been able to put your house in order,” he noted.

Dr Darko said the NPP must brand itself well if it is to succeed in convincing Ghanaians that it is a credible alternative.