NPP spits fire over Kufuor

John Agyekum Kufuor Leading Members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti region have expressed worry over the current unproductive behaviour and utterances of the Ga-Adangme Youth Association and Osu Traditional Council, with regard to the acquisition of a state bungalow by ex-President Kufuor.

They noted that the actions of the said groupings, if allowed to continue, could trigger tribal disagreements capable of creating disorder in the country.

According to the concerned leaders, it was unnecessary for certain groups of people to hide behind the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to do things that have the tendency to threaten the political stability of the country.

At a press conference in Kumasi on Tuesday, the NPP gurus appealed to the NDC government to irrevocably distance itself from the irresponsible behaviour of the groupings.

Mr. Asare-Bediako, NPP Constituency Chairman of Asokwa, who was the spokesperson of the opposition group, indicated that the recent controversies concerning the demands by Ga-Adangme Youth Association and Osu Traditional Council on the office accommodation being occupied by ex-President Kufuor, had to be dealt with by the ruling government and nobody else.

According to him, the development of any nation was dependent on the capability of its citizens and the ability of the state to mobilize resources, as well as the existence of peace and stability.

Mr. Asare-Bediako stated that the past eight years of NPP rule demonstrated clearly that ex-President Kufuor came to office and left in peace, leaving the country in the custody of President Atta Mills who should do his best to transform Ghana into a modern state.

“We believe that President Atta Mills will admit that he came to meet a significant degree of peaceful environment for stable state governance devoid of hatred and emerging deep-seated shocking tribal sentiments,” he stressed.

The NPP leaders therefore appealed to President Mills to uphold the accolade that he had attained over the years as a man of peace by nipping the ongoing rot in the bud.

Citing an example to buttress their point, they explained that when the colonizers made a policy to acquire lands belonging to individuals and the traditional governors in the then Gold Coast, they did not spare any group of people - they did not spare J.A. Kufuor's Apagyafie Traditional Stool.

“They did not spare the Anlo people in the Volta lands the Fantis, the Brongs, the Akwapims, the Akyems, the Ahantas, the Wassas, Dagombas, Mamprusis, Kusasis and all other tribes including many other families and traditional government lands and natural resources.

The lands belonging to the ex-President Kufuor's family were taken by the governments for public use and national development.”

The Asokwa Chairman said cocoa, timber, and gold were mobilized by the citizens of Ghana from all sources to develop the country.

“The only government that managed to release some government-acquired lands back to the people of Ga is the J.A Kufuor government and examples of such releases are the Accra Community Centre and the old Parliament House,” he pointed out.

He said Kufuor's government initiated a project of beautification of the Ga city of Accra and did not initiate a comparable one in either the Ashanti or Eastern regions, considered to be the strongholds of the NPP.

This, Mr. Asare-Bediako pointed out, had been a clear indication of the ex-President's good intention of nation-building.

Beside all these, the ex-President's government concentrated the majority of the country's development projects in the Greater Accra region, adding that the actions of the Ga-Adangme Youth Association and the Osu Traditional Council contravened the tenets of peaceful co-existence in any civilized political economy.

He noted with regret that the current controversy over ex-President J.A. Kufuor's office was the handiwork of certain elements of the current government who have designed a programme to disturb the peaceful co-existence of all citizens of Ghana.  

“If President Mills accepts the accolade 'Asomdwehene', then we are drawing his attention to his vow before becoming the President of Ghana that he will uphold and defend Ghana at all times and build a peaceful nation for all citizens of Ghana.

“We all need peace and thus ask the government to irrevocably distance itself from the current unproductive behaviour and utterances,” he said.

From Stella Danso, Kumasi