Plot to Assassinate MP?

Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Biakoye constituency, has hinted that some people in the Volta Region had hatched a plot to assassinate him, and that as part of the grand scheme, those fronting for the 'executioners' were painting him in bad light so they could do the job of their masters. He said he was subsequently calling on the highest organs of National Security to, as a matter of urgency, conduct investigations into allegations in sections of the media that he was 'blocking' peace moves in the 83-year old Nkonya-Alavanyo land dispute in the area.

Dr. Adjei, who spilled the beans in an interview with The Chronicle last Wednesday, said he had been long alerted to a plot by a group of people from Alavanyo to eliminate him at all cost, and that was why he was being given a bad name in order to be hanged, like a dog.

The MP lamented that it was unfortunate that, after all the efforts he had made at securing peace in the area, he should become a target of assassins.

“My brother, why do people love to give a dog a bad name just to hang it? Should the penalty of death be my reward for all my peace moves?” The soft-speaking Doctor of Administration enquired.

According to Adjei, a letter, published by an Accra daily, alluding that he attended a meeting of chiefs and people of Nkonya and referred to the conflict with the Alavanyos as 'a fight of two elephants' is a nation-wrecking lie, and added that with all the education and experience at his command, he could never have been the author of such proverbial naivety, unless he was in a state of mental malfunction.

“I had never, in all my political and private lives, held any meeting anywhere, anytime, to warn any individual or elder, let alone any chief, such as the Nkonya Paramount Chief, about any opinion or point of view expressed or held, expresses or holds as a citizen of Ghana. I respect the fundamental human rights of all persons irrespective of position or status, and I respect those rights rationally and at all times across all social, ethnic, traditional, religious and gender boundaries because I am a product of functional political socialization,” he indicated in a response sent to the paper.

According to the visibly disturbed MP, even though he could not fathom out the essence of the assassination plot, he had every reason to believe it, saying that the publication gives credence to his suspicions.

He also alleged that the media stuff could possibly be linked with some political figures outside his traditional National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Biakoye constituency, and added that whoever was behind it would eventually play into his hands, but he failed to name any party or politician.

He contended that any journalist or newspaper that would be going on with the publication of such stories would be virtually advocating his (Adjei's) assassination.

“It is time ordinary human beings masquerading as media men stop putting up their fellows for destruction or for the slaughter,” he noted.

Adjei, who polled 15,036 out of 22,042 valid votes cast in his constituency in the 2000 parliamentary elections, was in the news recently, when he dragged the NDC to court for short-circuiting him in preparations for this year's political showdown with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). That problem had since been solved out of court.

But this fresh development of plotting to eliminate him sounds quite interesting much as it is serious because, according to the MP, even though the writer of a letter that accused him 'falsely' claimed he was a concerned member of the Nkonya Youth Association, he (Adjei) strongly believed the person would be either an Alavanyo or one of the people fronting for them.

April, this year was the last time confirmed clashes were reported in the area, even though the possibility of other unreported atrocities could not be ruled out.

The 83-year old conflict, which has claimed several lives, had been the 'headache' of successive governments since independence.

Adjei's alleged assassination plot, if it is true, is likely to add fresh political spice, and for that matter new dimension, to an already complex historical standoff in the Volta region.

The resultant political bruise, which could never heal, would possibly be between the two largest political parties in the country today, NPP and NDC. Another Dagbon in the making?