NDC Thugs Grab On Lorry Station

DESPITE OVERWHELMING Public condemnation, it appears there is no let up in the politically motivated seizure of public facilities by operatives of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in certain parts of the country.

The latest public facility to fall victim to the unwarranted NDC thugs' machinations is the Kumasi-Tamale lorry station at Aboabo, a suburb of the nation's second largest city, Kumasi.

A group claiming allegiance to the ruling party is preventing the Co-operative Transport Union (CTU), the rightful managers of the lorry station, from operating its services.

Led by one Inusah Sonaa, the NDC operatives have without recourse to due process, established a counter Kumasi-Tamale service at the lorry station thereby creating chaos at the hitherto peaceful place.

Determined to cause mayhem at the lorry station, the NDC hooligans who also claim allegiance to the Andani gate have imported some hoodlums from the Northern region to harass and intimidate officers of the CTU.

Serving as guards at the lorry terminal and clad in NDC T-shirts, the imported mobsters use various crude methods to virtually prevent passengers from patronizing the services of the CTU who has been operating in the area since 2001.

Inspite of the volatility of the Dagbon conflict, these self-appointed guards are further fuelling the crisis at the lorry station by advertising their services as the only one serving the needs of Andanis; in other words their service is the best option for Andanis traveling to Tamale.

Last Monday, armed men from the Regional Buffalo unit of the Ghana Police Service had to intervene to restore peace and order when confusion broke out between the CTU and the NDC thugs.

In the process, the Buffalo men arrested some people believed to be initiators of the confusion and when a search was conducted on them, knives and some locally manufactured guns were retrieved.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the CTU chairman Abdallah Kama said, Inusah Sonaa was once his Vice Chairman when they started operation at the station eight years ago but was dismissed early last year due to misconduct.

He disclosed that they legally acquired the place to establish the station when they broke away from the Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU).

Chairman Abdallah, noted that since his dismissal, Sonaa had done everything possible to get reinstated but to no avail, thus after the first round of the last election, he came and warned them that should the NDC win the polls, he would seize the station from them.

According to him, a few days after the party was declared victorious in the polls, Sonaa emerged and ordered them to pack their bags and leave the premises because he was coming to take over.

He stated that Sonaa, who had refused to heed to the police and the regional council of transport union's directive to stay away from the station, continued pestering them until he finally set up a counter Kumasi-Tamale service at the place without regard to due process.

Anticipating danger at the station due to the political and ethnic card games being played by Sonaa and his men, Mr. Abdallah called on the regional minister, Muslim leaders and opinion leaders in the metropolis to intervene and bring sanity to the place.

Pointing out that until Sonaa and his men decided to take the law into their own hands, the station was peaceful, and he enjoined the police to be on the alert to ensure that nothing untoward happens.

Though, the Buffalo had arrested some of their men, when DAILY GUIDE visited the lorry station, a Benz Bus with registration number GT 6057 N belonging to Sonaa's group was still loading passengers to Tamale.

Attempts by the paper to take a shot of the bus as well as speak with Sonaa and his men proved futile as wild looking thugs chased this reporter when they got wind of his identity.

Boasting that their government was in power, Sonaa and his men, DAILY GUIDE gathered, have vowed to deal ruthlessly with any reporter who would come to the station with a view to reporting what was happening there.

From Morgan Owusu, Kumasi