Rejoinder: Why Akufo-Addo's Peace Hymn Is Worse Than Mahama's War Song

Dear Manasseh Azure Awuni......

I seldom respond to your thoughts on National issues but sometimes I am forced to do so as a means of engaging you in a healthy debate. I have been a strong advocate for proper intellectual discourse and so when someone shares his opinion on national issues, I believe in the principle that, "whenever there is going to be a response to that effect, attention ought to be paid to the substance." I have defended you and Anas Aremeyaw Anas on so many occasions particularly on your investigative works. Your work as an investigative journalist is a powerful work you have chosen as a career and I urge you to continue in that regard not forgetting my advice of" *adding embellishment to your investigative works* to meet the modern trends of powerful investigative journalism.

You have written two articles recently, the first one was when you openly told the whole World that, your respect for Nana Akufo Addo prior to the 2016 election has dwindled completely without anchoring same on any valid reason. The last one I read yesterday is what has been captioned boldly above. The fact that you shared your *thought* as a citizen of Ghana does not mean that same is your sole prerogative and no one can disagree with you on your thought.

I have carefully perused the two articles and seriously I disagree with you for justifiable reasons. This piece might be long but would do so by demonstrating why your article is a mishmash and full of spun yarns which should not sink in the ears of the ordinary citizen.

First and foremost, how do you lose your respect for a man who has fulfilled 80% of his campaign promises in just two years to the good people of Ghana? How do you lose your respect for a man who defied all odds as a politician to appoint his opponent in court and in politics as a special prosecutor knowing very well how the NDC hounded him as an Attorney General and eventually booted him out of office because he was fighting deep-rooted corruption in the NDC?.

Again, how do you lose your respect for a man who has blocked all judgment debt payments under his government? How again do you lose your respect for a man under whose administration the Auditor General and the Commission On Human Rights And Administrative Justice received the highest budgetary allocation owing to the fight against corruption?. I am yet to understand what actually motivated you to put out the said feeble write-up.

Let me proceed by tackling the one i have captured above which is the substantive issue. In your write up, you described the president's condemnation of the happenings of the Ayawaso by-election which was organised on the 31st Janaury,2019 by the electoral commission as empty. You proceeded to justify your description of the President's statement as EMPTY on the score that, the condemnation was only to satisfy the public but privately, the police investigation was going to be stifled to shield those who fired the gunshots on that very day. You have chosen to walk with selective amnesia in the sense that, same condemnation came from John Mahama when similar incident happened in the Talensi By Election where we were told that, the Azorka Boys who decided to fire sporadically wouldn't have done that, had it not been the case that, they were provoked and so violence begets violence?

You have soon forgotten that same condemnation you described as Empty was the popular hymn that flooded the airwaves by well meaning Ghanaians and civil society organisation when Ahmed Hussein Suale was assassinated a few weeks ago. Were you in this country when late J.E.A Mills of blessed memory categorically told Ghanaians that, he was not in the position of arresting those hoodlums connected to the NDC who decided to terrorise the voters' registration exercise in April 14th,2012?

Has this government dismissed any public office holder for executing his/her mandate within the confines of the law? Has this IGP been warned not to cause the arrest of any deviant perceived to be NPP in line with his criminal conduct?. If you have an IGP who isn't bold to treat crime as crime and he is in dereliction of his duty, you don't blame the president when an" offender" of the law is not brought to face the full rigours of the law.

As far as every reasonable Ghanaian is concerned, Nana Akufo Addo has given the security agencies the enabling environment to operate without hindrance. I am therefore challenging you to mention one stumbling block that Akufo Addo's government has put in place that is preventing the security agencies from doing their work.

#If you want to know how" loose" those articles are, check the dry lines and see if you can find "one Ashawo pioto" that has been put on the dry line.#

Dawda Eric (Equity)

Citizen Vigilance For Justice

4th Feb.2019