General News of Monday, 9 June 1997

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Ashanti NDC Protest

Kumasi, -- The Campaign Management Committee of the Ashanti Regional Secretariat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has protested against ''provocative acts and undemocratic attitude,'' of some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Afigya-Sekyere East constituency. It said some NPP activists are going round the constituency spreading false information that the NDC is recruiting thugs and, ''machomen,'' to disrupt the elections slated for June 10 in the constituency. A press statement signed by Mr King Amoah, Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Region NDC, described the allegation as ''baseless and unfounded since such acts are contrary to the principles of the NDC in upholding the virtues of free, fair and smooth elections in a democratic era. "With these ugly sentiments engulfing the NPP camp, the NDC is tempted to believe that the relative peace prevailing in the constituency and the district has seriously been threatened." The committee called on the relevant authorities to ensure that ''the NPP stops its politics of, harassment, intimidation and the outright peddling of falsehood against its opponents for an incident-free election. It said: "other factors contributing to the growing tension in the district was the care-free attitude of Mr A. K. Kyeremanteng, the NPP Candidate, who has taken upon himself to instigate the NPP youth to create disorder and chaos". It recalled that "on May 11, at Agona, Mr Kyeremanteng even caused the NPP youth to hoot at Professor Atta Mills, the Vice- President and his entourage after a rally and hauled insults at Commander P.M. G. Griffiths, the NDC Candidate ".