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Refugees Storm NPP Headquarters

By Daily Guide
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version
Politics

Ebenezer Asamanin THE NUMBER of supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) trooping to the party's campaign office from various parts of the country to seek refuge keeps increasing by the day, as they are being violently chased out of their homes because of their political affiliation.

The internally displaced persons running into hundreds, include lactating mothers and children with various degrees of injuries and are currently seeking asylum at the party's campaign office at Asylum Down in Accra and also at the Nima Junction residence of Nana Akufo-Addo, the party's flag-bearer.

Last Tuesday, one of them, Suleman Alhassan was buried after he died of cutlass wounds inflicted on him by known members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Agbogbloshie in Accra.

DAILY GUIDE can confirm that last Wednesday, 8 severely injured members of the party arrived in Accra from Tamale after they were reportedly assaulted and threatened with death by people believed to be members of the NDC and another NPP member with a completely broken arm arrived in Accra from Anloga in the Volta region.

The victims are seeking medical attention at various hospitals in Accra at the expense of the party.

At Atebubu Amanteng in the Brong Ahafo region, the NPP constituency campaign chairman, Hamza Muhamed, has reported to police that his two-bedroom house has been set on fire and all his property completely burnt by a group of persons suspected to be NDC agents.

Kwabena Agyepong, a leading member of the NPP yesterday told DAILY GUIDE that the party sympathizes with the victims and would do all within its means to ensure that perpetrators of the injustice are dealt with according to the law.

He condemned the attack on the NPP members and said, “What is more worrying is the continuing and widespread nature of it.

“They should be strong and also report any of those incidents to the Police and also report it to the party headquarters either in Accra or in their respective regions and we would follow up and take all the necessary actions; we are there for them and would ensure that we put together a team of lawyers who would ensure that nobody takes the liberties of our party for granted,” Mr. Agyepong said.

He called on President Atta Mills and the leadership of the NDC to officially condemn the attack on the NPP members and urge the NDC supporters to exercise restraint and celebrate the party's victory within the confines of the law.

He said at the last National Executive Meeting of the party, a decision was arrived at for a Welfare Committee to be set up to address the situation and also for the party to do all within its means to bring an immediate stop to the illegality.

“The NPP has won two elections in this country and no such thing happened; this is indeed very worrying and the security agencies should act and act quickly,” Mr. Agyepong added.

He said as long as the country continues to practice multi-party democracy, there would always be winners and losers in every election, thus there is the need to educate the electorate that winning an election is not a mandate to unleash violence on political rivals.

When DAILY GUIDE arrived at the NPP campaign office, several of the party's members had turned almost every available space into a sleeping place.

While some were sleeping in rooms at the back of the main building, others were lying on the corridors, conference rooms, offices and even on the compound.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
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