Asiedu Nketia hammered: For describing Kwabena Agyapong as "mad"

It is becoming increasingly clear from the utterances of some big guns of the National Democratic Congress that they are not at all prepared to make this year's electioneering campaign clean and decent.

This was amply demonstrated by Johnson Asiedu Nketia, NDC General Secretary, yesterday when he, without any provocation, described Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, former presidential aspirant of the NPP, as mad.

The platform was Adom FM's morning show programme, and the issue at stake was the findings from the committee set up by the Electoral Commission to investigate the alleged bloated voters' register.

Ekuoba Gyasi, host of the programme, had called both Nketia and Kwabena Agyapong to solicit their comments on the issue. The NPP guru was explaining why there was no basis for the NDC flag bearer, John Evans Atta Mills, to have gone haywire about the allegation of bloated voters' register.

Apparently angered by his submission, the NDC General Secretary described Mr Agyapong as mad, adding that he was "not sensible."

But, registering their total shock and contempt about Mr Nketia's conduct, callers to the programme subjected the NDC chief scribe to what could be described as verbal hammering, a clear indication that the electorate are not ready for any kind of politics of insults.

Caller after caller condemned Nketia's comment and called on the leadership of the NDC to call him to order to ensure decency in this year's electioneering campaign.

Meanwhile, Nana Obiri-Boahen, Minister of State at the Interior Ministry, has described Mr Nketia's comment as "highly irresponsible and uncalled for," adding that such utterances from top echelons of a big party like the NDC is a recipe for needless tension in the country.

"If we have a situation where no mean person than the General Secretary of a leading opposition party could behave this way and refer to another leading politician as mad, then God should save Ghana," he told The Statesman yesterday.

In the words of Nana Obiri-Boahen, "In any case, I was not surprised at all about Nketia's conduct because he is very notorious for raining scathing insults on political opponents. It was this same Nketia who described the 17 former presidential aspirants of the NPP as thieves and, that we were going to congress to elect the chief thief."

The Minister was also surprised that in spite of the fact that the NDC General Secretary has been on record for unprovoked insults, "no one in his party, not even the Presidential Candidate, nor his running mate, seem to see anything wrong with his habit. It is indeed true when our elders say 'show me your friend and I will show you your character'."

When The Statesman sought his reaction to Mr Nketia's insult, Mr Agyapong was reluctant to do so. "I was happy about the kind of reaction that greeted his conduct from the public, and this should tell him and the NDC that the people are not ready for any kind of politics of insult," he hesitantly told The Statesman.