A week of NDC Campaign launch, Obinim flogging and Donkorkrom unrest

The campaign launch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Cape Coast on Sunday , dominated the the headlines on Monday with the comments of Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye taking centre stage.

Nii Lante Vanderpuye’s presidency is not for short people comment angered a lot of NPP functionaries as well as some short people eho claimed they had been insulted. Also, was President John Mahama's claim that the New Patriotic Party(NPP) had won an Olympic gold medal in insults.

Youth and Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye
In justifying both comments, the party’s campaign spokesperson for the NDC, Joyce Bawah Mogtari said the statement by Nii Lante was a figure of speech. Critics charged the Sports Minister to apologise but he was in no mood to do so. Mr Vanderpuye promised to " continue using the word short since the mention of it makes his opponents go haywire".

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) hit back at the president. The party condemned President John Mahama’s comments about unity, saying he was not qualified to talk about party unity.

The President at the campaign launch
Away from the NDC but still in politics, the embattled Chairman of the NPP, Paul Afoko who was challenging his suspension by the party, had his case dismissed by the court to close the chapter on a busy Monday.

On Tuesday, things turned deadly. One person was killed and another sustained gunshot wounds after armed robbers attacked a Kwahu Rural Bank bullion van near Donkorkrom in the Afram Plains South district of the Eastern region.

It was the same day President Mahama b egan his campaign in the Western region after the launch on Sunday.

Whilst busy on his campaign trail, the President was accused of abusing incumbency by the Ghana Integrity Initiative for distributing outboard motors to fishermen in the region, a gesture which many have condemned and described as vote-buying.

The president was not perturbed by the criticisms. He was in fact in a firing mood throwing jabs at the NPP leader. According to him, the NPP’s 2016 Flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo did not see the good roads in the Western Region because he slept on his Western region tour.

Well, if the jab by the president is anything to go by, unlike Akufo-Addo, it seems residents of Gbulung in the Kumbungu district of the Northern Region have been awake but have not seen the good roads in their area.

Some protestors at Gbulung
They hit the streets on Wednesday in protest o ver the bad nature of their roads.

Simultaneously, residents of Takla, Hodzo and Kpanoe in the Ho Central Constituency in the Volta region also demonstrated and vowed not to vote if the bad roads in the area were not fixed.

Some protestors with placards
Also on Wednesday, Police in Afram Plains arrested two policemen and one civilian in connection with the Bank robbery attack on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the two policemen escaped while being transported to Koforidua. It appears the escape of the police suspects angered the residents who went on demonstration protesting what they said was the increase in the incidence of armed robbery.

Some s ixteen residents of Donkorkrom sustained varying degrees of injuries after police reportedly fired into demonstrators.

One injured resident at the hospital
The demonstrators had gone to petition the Police Commander to look into the robbery incident involving the two policemen. The policemen were recaptured on Thursday after the clash.

Also, President John Mahama commissioned the new Tweneboah Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) oil fields in the Western Region.

Also, a pre-election survey conducted by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) showed the NDC was the most guilty of buying votes ahead of the 2016 elections in December.

And a video in which Bishop Daniel Obinim was whipping a lady and a young man with a belt in front of his congregation for allegedly fornicating surfaced.

The Founder and Head Pastor of International God’s Way Church was heavily condemned for the act.

A scene from the video
On Friday, some lawyers and human rights groups called for the arrest of Bishop Daniel Obinim who in turn indicated that a nyone calling for his arrest was unintelligent.

Also, police intensified security in Donkorkrom and the Eastern Regional Security Council began background checks on police officers in the region.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com| Patricia Asiedua Akuffo| [email protected] | asiedua_ Twitter/Instagram