NPP Minority's Flaws Exposed on the Floors of ‘EOCO Street’. Is it ‘Finished’ for NPP?

Spirits of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Minority members of Parliament may not be in consonance with their upholstery seats in Parliament to sit on, as was in the words of their leader sometime back, but will perfectly be in love with the hard concrete and partially dusty floors of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) entrance to sit with their expensive laundered clothings.

EOCO, is a State agency charged with the responsibility of monitoring and investigating economic and organized crime and on the authority of the Attorney-General of Ghana to prosecute offences emanating from their investigations to recover the proceeds of crime and provide for related matters. The agency is backed by Act 466 of Parliament of Ghana which came into being in 1993 established as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to augment existing laws and institutions that was found to be somewhat deficient then to detect, investigate and prosecute complex frauds and economic crimes in Ghana. It will later be known as the EOCO.

This public institution has since then been living up to its call whenever suspected cases of complex crimes, including money laundering, financial or economic loss to the State, or financial loss to any institution or entity in which there is the State's financial interest, human trafficking, prohibited cyber activity, tax fraud and other serious offences whenever brought to its doors steps on the authority of the Attorney-General. The institution also cooperates with relevant foreign and international agencies in furtherance of why it was established.

The symbolic picture the minority MPs in their minds probably tried to paint is not being bought by Ghanaians but by only some of their supporters who appeared not to understand the gravity of suspicions leading to the arrest and detention of the Ashanti regional chairman of the NPP, Bernard Atwi Boasiako (Wuntumi). They ended up painting themselves as a confused group who have probably lost the bearing of their constituencies and the principles lawmaking and lawmakers ought to be anchored on.

Unfortunately for them, they were not united even in their quest to protest a party member who is not even a national executive member’s arrest. Honorable Patricia Appiagyei nullified their perceived unified front by sending what is probably a coded message sitting on a chair and looking over them as if they were her pupils.

All she needed was a chalkboard pointer to perfectly put them under the category of pupils under a tree, as is the case in the constituencies of many of them. A situation they have neglected to go sit on the bare floor of a security institution’s entrance wasting precious and productive time and to be seen obstructing justice. An act that obviously was a conscious effort on their part to prevent a state institution from carrying out its constitutional duties.

Indeed, they seem to have cemented what is currently dwelling on the tongues and lips of many that the NPP as a party is ‘finished’.

Have the daily press conferences on any little thing smelled from the NDC side become the Minority’s agenda 88, where one MP per press conference a day is expected to run for 88 days and rerun its cause again?

The press conference agenda appears to be failing, and it did not come as a surprise to many to see the Minority leader leading his members away from the floor of Parliament to occupy the entrance floor of a State investigative institution threatening and calling for the release of a suspect. A suspect the deputy Attorney General of Ghana, Dr. Justice Sai has confirmed was arrested and being investigated for fraud, causing financial loss to the State and involved in a string of money laundering and international organized crime.

One will think that as a responsible political party they would like many to believe they are, NPP will at least praise their opponents where it is due and criticize constructively where need be for the sake of Ghana that they all represent by virtue of their positions as MPs. However, current happenings do not paint such a picture at all.

Must everything be viewed with a partisan lens, even in the legislature? What then happens in the event compelling evidence is upheld at the court and the NPP‘s Ashanti regional chairman is pronounced guilty on all counts of allegation against him? Will the MPs be dragged to the privileges committee for bringing the name of Parliament into disrepute, and what will their punishment be? Is it immunity as usual?

How will they convince the citizenry on the rationale behind their leaving Parliament and gracefully walking in files like some kindergarten children on a field trip to end up occupying a security zone without invitation and to sit on the floor like some yoga tricksters announcing their mischief to the whole world?

Was it to create some form of escape mechanism for subsequent arrest of some of them that may find themselves on the wrong side of accountability during their stewardship? So, if the suspect hails from the capital of Ashanti region and is the party's regional chairman where the umbilical cord of the NPP is believed to lay traditionally buried, culturally and politically celebrated, must the law not be applicable to him, but cease to be the law?

The supporters obviously are kept 'blind' and 'deaf' moulded to be hardcore partisan dark-lens-wearers supporters of the NPP who cannot and will not intellectually deduce they are being used against their own country, their future and the future of their children's children to come. Painfully, this indoctrination permeates all levels in society.

What is the use of intellect when the faculty of reasoning gifted a person by his or her maker is rendered useless to not see even one good thing about his or her opponent's strides, including the opponent's focus to make that self-inflicted or consciously acquired daylight 'blinded' and 'deaf' individual or group's life better?

Indeed some are still in the wild hunting for and purchasing ignorance at an expensive price when wisdom is readily available to them free of charge.

They refuse to see One Ghana no matter what. The wise among them are changing their dancing steps to the melodious tunes and smiling; tunes they once upon a time never saw coming, or at least knew was coming but greeted it with envious frowns.

Ignorance they say is darker than NIGHT, why will they not be open minded and embrace positivity to be brighter than LIGHT?

Before they realize they have no wings, the floor they stood and sat on 'bleeding' because of the heavy impact of their 2024 election defeat, in the name of Wuntumi would have been swept away from underneath their precious partisan feet.

I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan.
Pennsylvania, USA