NPP’s story of falsehood

The presidential candidate of the NPP has stated on several occasions that his campaign for this year's December, elections will be based on their story. The NPP story of seven year rule in which they have turned the Ghanaian into a pauper even in the face of the huge financial resources that have been made available to them .

That story increasingly is now turning into a story of falsehood and lies and many Ghanaians are those who are wondering if they are hearing with their own two ears what they know to be patently false.

We have read with a lot of regret the story of the entanglement between the supporters of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and those of the New Patriotic Party( NPP) on Friday, 28th March 2008, at the residence of the National Chief Imam at Abeka-Fadama in Accra, We were amazed at the twist that was given to what transpired by Dr. Arthur Kennedy the Chairman of the Publicity Committee of the NPP. Our regret lies in the simple fact of the strenuous attempt that was made by Dr, Kennedy to falsify the truth and blame the NDC for all that happened on such a holy day for our brothers and sisters of the Muslim faith.

As is always usual of the NPP functionaries, the story told by Dr, Arthur Kennedy was full of outright lies, patented falsehood, and unsubstantiated allegations all perfectly calculated to score very cheap political points and play to the Ghanaian gallery. It was designed to dent the hard won reputation of the rather peaceful and law abiding National Democratic congress supporters who were going about their affairs rather peacefully until the NPP decided to take the law into their private hands and to show the rest of society where power lies on that Friday.

Let us point out that political violence in this country was given birth to by the tradition to which the NPP belong, the Danquah-Busia Matemeho tradition which was the first political tradition to introduce violence into Ghanaian politics. Violence as a political weapon is therefore in the culture of the NPP and this is a fact which is very well known to Dr. Arthur Kennedy and Nana Akufo –Addo his master.

The events of Friday March 28th, 2008 must make all true lovers of peace and democracy who wish to preserve and maintain our democracy, so carefully nurtured by the NDC rise up and add their voices in condemnation of the unruly behaviour of the NPP which as a ruling party must be the first to obey the laws and regulations of the country and set the good examples for others to emulate.

The NPP was scheduled to pay a visit to the Chief Imam much earlier in the morning of 28th March, 2008. Due to their arrogance and disrespect for the person and office of the Chief Imam, they refused to obey the time schedule given to them. The NDC however kept to the 10.30 am time schedule given to them, and therefore happened to have been the first to arrive and to pay homage to the National Chief Imam.

The NDC faithful in the community on hearing of the presence of their Presidential Candidate congregated at the residence of the Chief Imam to interact with him. The NDC realized that the vicinity of Chief Imam's palace was too small and therefore moved away to a nearby open space a few metres away in order to make sure that the main road which happened to be the only one would remain clear as public access road for all.

Not soon after, Nana Akufo-Addo the Presidential Candidate of the NPP arrived hours after his scheduled time with a large retinue of officials and a platoon of policemen, as if they were going to do battle somewhere. They parked their vehicles on the only road in front of the chief Imam's palace, thereby blocking the only access way completely.

After Professor Mills had finished addressing the NDC supporters he proceeded to leave the area. The Mills convoy and it was a modest one without any police escort encountered the Akufo-Addo blockade of the area, which refused to give right of way to the NDC convoy and their supporters who were seeing off their presidential candidate.

The most pathetic aspect of the whole issue was that the police who accompanied the Nana Akufo-Addo retinue were completely impotent and could not order the NPP officials to move their vehicles from the road so that others could have the right of way.

That was what brought about the near clash between the supporters of the two parties. It was the good offices of the NDC leadership in the area which prevailed before sanity could be maintained.

The level of violence in the NPP's activities just in this year alone must be frightening to all who are careful watchers of our political scene. Just last week, the former Minister of Energy Mr. Kofi Adda was reported to have led a group of thugs to severely beat up the Zonal organizer of the Peoples National Convention at Navrongo. In Kade in the Eastern Region, the Deputy Regional Minister was busy ordering his police bodyguard to beat up two brothers for merely questioning the over speeding of his vehicle in town. In Kumasi, the NPP Secretary of the Nhyieso Constituency was beaten up by a group of thugs organized by one of the aspiring Members of Parliament who claimed that the secretary was frustrating his efforts to secure nomination forms.

We can also recall the many politically motivated violence that the NPP government has supervised since it came into power in the year 2001. With this the gruesome daylight murder of the Ya Na Yakubu Andani and the 40 of his courtiers even under the full glare of the police and the Army personnel posted to the town will remain one of the most talked about political violence in our history. Alhaji Issa Mobilla will be remembered as one of those who were sought by the police, went to report himself at the police station, was transferred to the army guard room at Kamina barracks in Tamale only to be found dead in the morning tortured to death . His killers have not been prosecuted to date even though they are clearly known.

All across this country, within the past seven and a half years under the NPP we have seen atrocities committed by the agents of this NPP government which have gone unpunished in what ever form. To imagine that all these have taken place in a democratic dispensation where law and order were to be the order of the day is absolutely unbelievable. In terms of personal security, we are all less secure today than ever before, as armed robbers infested with cocaine and other hard drugs terrorize poor indefensible citizens day in day out with the government looking on helpless and hopeless.

We certainly have not yet seen the end of NPP's violent intimidation of its opponents . The National Democratic Congress will not allow itself to be intimidated as the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo tried to do last Friday. The misuse of state resources by the NPP, especially the security, in trying to intimidate its opponents was very much evident last Friday.

The NDC has a better stake in the maintenance of law and order as a prerequisite for the coming elections than the NPP which is seeking every opportunity to create chaos and anarchy so as to have the opportunity to unleash the state security apparatus against its opponents particularly the NDC. The National Democratic Congress established and nurtured the present peaceful democratic dispensation. We provided the peaceful environment for the holding of free fair and acceptable elections which paved the way for the NPP to win power even as they were in opposition. It was the existence of such congenial atmosphere which the NDC provided in 2000 that has kept this country together today. We challenge the NPP to do the same and to preserve our nation for our future generations even as they are on their way out.