NPP Sends Strong Warning To Govt

Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey is the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday April 21, 2010
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the country is witnessing an unprecedented violence in a democratic dispensation under the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“The surge in violence in Bawku and its surroundings since the NDC came into government is not coincidence. Indeed, we are seeing this pattern in several parts of the country”, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, National Chairman of the NPP said in a press statement.

The statement titled “Murder of Amadu Danladi, the Misiga polling station chairman of the new patriotic party in the Bawku Central Constituency” issued in Accra and signed by Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey said “this attitude of government has emboldened thugs and trouble makers to attack innocent citizens at will and with impunity.”

It condemned what it calls “the blatant display of one-sidedness by the government of our Republic and the escalating violence in Bawku. There is both moral and constitutional burden on government to retract from this unhealthy support for criminals and trouble makers, arrest and prosecute suspects, and signal to all residents of Bawku that government can be a mediating mother in the conflicts of that area.”

The statement explained that in the specific case of Bawku, the area saw relative peace over the period preceding January 2009 when the NDC took over the reins of power saying “It was not through any extraordinary skill of the then NPP government at peace keeping that made this possible. It was simply the result of the even-handed and sincere manner in which the then government related to the issues of the area.”

“Since January 2009, the NDC government has abandoned the policy of even-handedness and provided tacit support for Kusasis acting under the umbrella of the NDC government to visit violence on not just Mamprusis, but anybody perceived to be a leading member or supporter of the NPP in that neighbourhood.”
It said the perpetrators continue to “roam the streets with their chests out. The government has chosen to look the other way while the situation deteriorates alarmingly.”

The party also protested the death of Amadu Danladi, its Misiga polling station chairman who was shot dead by unknown assailants on the eve of April 15, 2010.

“On the night of Thursday, 15th April 2010, at approximately 8.00 pm, supposedly under curfew hours, the late Amadu Danladi, the Misiga polling station chairman of the NPP was attacked in his home and shot to death. His wife was also shot several times and is seriously wounded. We continue to pray for her as she battles to hold on to life.”

“It is important to state that this attack on our brother’s life was not the first. He has been the victim of several attacks by his political opponents in recent times. In February 2010, his cattle was invaded and destroyed. Not satisfied with the difficult life into which this unprovoked attack brought upon him, his opponents decided this time to take his life altogether.”

There have been countless of attacks in Bawku, some of them resulting in the deaths of the victims. Many of them have been publicly discussed. But the sad attack on the late Amadu Danladi, the NPP polling station chairman of Misiga is very similar to the attack on the NPP constituency vice chairman Alhaji Bukari Kiri last year.

Alhaji Kiri’s house and farm premises were attacked and burnt to ashes. He lost 54 cows and 200 sheep, and his award-wining grain barn was razed to the ground. The once Best Farmer for the municipality now has to struggle to feed himself and his family.

“We all saw the video footages and still pictures of unauthorised armies being trained in guerrilla camps in the Upper East Region. When their cover was blown and the matter came into the open, only one person was arrested. His name was Sulemana Yusif Assanna. It is of immense interest that Mr. Assanna is the son of the NDC Constituency Chairman of the area. He was immediately transported to Accra.”

“Was he brought to Accra to be investigated? That was what everybody thought. But it turned out that he was actually brought to Accra to be freed quietly. And he was freed quietly without a statement from him. All of this happened under the full watch of Honourable Cletus Avoka, the then NDC Minister of the Interior.”

“As a signal to the violent elements in the NDC across the country that they could always count on the protection of the NDC government in whatever they do, Mr. Assanna has now been employed as a national security personnel at the Castle, the seat of government.”


The NPP warned that “if government maintains its unhealthy support for thugs and bloodthirsty criminals, those who have been at the receiving end of the violence in Bawku and elsewhere but have been denied state protection may rise to protect themselves. The consequence would be unpleasant for the Bawku area, unpleasant for the adjoining neighbours, and ultimately, unpleasant for the country as a whole.”

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