Kufour Is A Bullying Giant -NDC, Dan Lartey

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and four other opposition parties, have accused the government of deliberately packing the state security apparatus with people who played lead roles in the persecution and torture of political opponents during the National Redemption Council (NRC) and Supreme Military Council (SMC0 eras.

The opposition also accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration of giving these people a leeway to absolutely undermine the statutory security establishments in order to supplant or neutralize legitimate constitutional agencies such as the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service so as to re-establish the unaccountable power that they used to enjoy in their hey days.

Furthermore, the opposition, expressed regrets that in spite of the acclaimed image of President Kufour being a “Gentle Giant”, he has now become a “Bullying Giant”. “Most Ghanaians are confused and wondering, is this the party that promised positive change? The gentility of the gentle giant is missing. All we see is a bullying giant determined to terrorise and crush political opposition in order to crate a de-facto one-party state, and kill democracy in Ghana”, Mr Dan Lartey declared.

The presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) made the foregoing observations at a press conference, jointly organised by the five opposition parties in Accra, on Wednesday.

He added that: “Gradually and in a vicious cycle, these forces (the former militarist) gain unlimited access, influence and finally control over the political masters and are winning over sections of the media to champion their hidden agenda”, he said.

According to Mr Dan Lartey, the posture of the Kufour Government has bewildered many Ghanaians who could not believe that it was this same government that promised Ghanaians “Positive Change.” The five opposition parties charged that the former operatives in the NRC-SMC regimes have track records of human rights abuses, including systemic torture of political opponents and regretted, however, that these forces, have managed to seethe into the filament of governance, thus neutralizing its authority.

Mr Dan Lartey decried the situation in which large arsenals of weapons, including silencers, had been imported into the country for use by the personnel of the “Party Police” which were discretely recruited through NPP channels.