Posted on:
www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw
Owusu
Thursday, January
19, 2017
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not taking kindly to
allegations that it has let loose its supporters to visit mayhem on innocent
Ghanaians in the guise of taking over of public institutions.
The NPP questioned the truth in the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) accusing the Akufo-Addo-led governing NPP for the post-election violence
and takeover of state properties, saying the former (NDC) is only crying wolf
where there is none.
The NDC at an earlier
press conference accused President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP leadership of
allowing their supporters to unleash mayhem on its members and innocent
Ghanaians, following their (Nana and NPP’a) electoral victory.
However, NPP deputy General Secretary, Nana Obiri Boahen, at a
press conference in Accra yesterday, said the party could not be held
responsible because the mandate to maintain law and order is given to the
police.
He said the NDC is rather guilty of not doing anything when some
NPP supporters were butchered in 2009, after it had taken over power from the
NPP.
Nana Obiri Boahen asked the Police Administration to find
perpetrators of the violence unleashed on Ghanaians, which led to some deaths at
the time.
The NPP wants the police to act because according to the party,
‘crime has no expiry date’ and even insinuated that the police appeared to have
‘relaxed’ in fighting political-related crimes during the NDC regime - which
came to an end on January 6, 2017.
Bloody Murders
Reacting to a recently-held NDC press conference which accused the
NPP’s Invisible Forces of unleashing violence on its supporters, Nana Obiri
Boahen, a lawyer, listed a number of crimes, including bloody murders, of NPP’s
supporters which he said the police had not been able to investigate and deal
with the perpetrators.
He particularly mentioned the much-talked-about Agbogbloshie killings
of NPP supporters by perceived NDC hoodlums, in front of a police station; then
NDC National Women Organizer, Anita de Sosoo, driving her vehicle through a
group of NPP by-standers at Abomosu in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region,
Naaba Abdulai’s open confession that he and others kill people on a daily
basis, as well as the shooting of NPP supporters at Point Blank by an NDC
operative at the Castle, Osu, as some of the issues the police needed to
revisit.
Decisive Action
Nana Obiri Boahen said that the NPP expected the police and the
security agencies to act decisively in any spate of lawlessness, irrespective
of the perpetrators’ political leanings, but it was clear the police only
appear to find their ‘voice’ when the issues involve NPP supporters.
“We will remind the police under John Kudalor that they cannot
suddenly discover themselves only when events involve suspected NPP supporters
and sympathizers,” he said, adding, “Crime has no expiry date and we await what
their response will be in these cases which we have recounted among several
others.”
Supposed
Takeovers
He said that the NPP had formally condemned any acts of lawlessness unreservedly
and would not countenance any such actions by its members, adding that those
leading the charge from the NDC camp are themselves guilty of the same offence.
“It is most shocking to have Kofi Portuphy lead the charge against
the NPP about seizures. The NDC Chairman was one of the principal persons who
masterminded or conducted the ‘foot-soldiers descent’ on state institutions and
facilities in 2009,” Nana Obiri Boahen recounted, adding, “He, Portuphy, led
the NDC hoodlums to physically take over
NADMO and imposed himself on NADMO until President Mills formally requested him
to take over.”
He said that when the NDC took over in 2009, they unlawfully seized
two Land Cruisers belonging Nana Akufo-Addo; seized then outgoing President
Kufuor’s cars; motivated some Ga youth to say Mr. Kufuor should not have an
office on Ga land; ordered all NPP ministers to report to the Police
Headquarters; confiscated outgoing ministers’ cars without refund, among others,
and said the NDC cannot turn around to play the victim now.
NDC Lies
According to Nana Obiri Boahen, the NDC told a pack of lies about
the NPP, particularly its (NPP’s) then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, and that sent
the NDC into opposition “but they still haven’t learnt their lessons.”
He said the NDC spent resources trying to portray now President
Akufo-Addo as a violent and divisive person but failed miserably saying, “The
vast majority of Ghanaian people who voted for the NPP saw through the lies of
the NDC.”
The NPP Deputy General Secretary said that for the NDC to continue
to cling onto the ‘warped’ idea that the Invisible Forces is the creation of
President Akufo-Addo showed that the opposition party had not changed from the
dirty politics, adding, “These intemperate and acerbic languages they had
poured on the President defy common sense.”
Plagiarism Row
Nana Obiri Boahen justified President Akufo-Addo’s inaugural address
which some critics claim parts were plagiarized. He said the president could
not be held for academic fraud because the original source of the quote is
unknown.
“The NDC and their apologists refer to portions of Nana Akufo-Addo’s
inaugural speech and described his conduct as ‘intellectual dishonesty and
academic fraud.’ The question to ask is who is the original source of the words
used by President Akufo-Addo? Certainly not former President Bush. Those words
were used by President Wildrow Wilson. Since that-high profile submission by
President Wildrow Wilson, 13 US presidents have used those same words in their
inaugural addresses so who has used whose words?
“The truth is that, the biographer of President Wildrow Wilson
acknowledged that those words were not original from President Wilson. The
original person who rendered that powerful sermon remains unknown. The
importance of those words found expression in the speeches of 14 American
presidents - the last being President George Bush. None of them made
attributions because the original source remains unknown. That explains why
President Bush was not accused of plagiarism,” the legal gem explained.
Pay Back
The NPP sent a signal that it was going to engage in mudslinging
with the NDC if the opposition party continued to show disrespect to the president.
“As for Kofi Portuphy, Asiedu Nketia, Koku Anyidoho and their gang,
we shall caution that from now on, if they throw mud on the president in whom
such an unprecedentedly overwhelming majority have reposed their confidence, we
will pay them back in equal measure.”
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