Diaspora News of Saturday, 21 May 2011

Source: stephen a.quaye

Former Npp Chairman Hit Back At His Critics

From: Stephen A.Quaye, Toronto-Canada.

Former chairman of the New Patriotic Party [NPP] branch in Toronto, Mr. McDonald Agbenyo, has hit back at his critics that condemned him recently for warning former president Jerry John Rawlings to stay away from tribal politics.
He held on to his earlier claim that Ghanaians are one people therefore there is no reason why some one should be allowed to create division amongst the people by using tribal politics.
McDonald Agbenyo, when addressing party faithful at recent chat and dance fund raising at North Kipling Community Centre in Toronto, used the opportunity to send a warning to the former president to desist from tribal politics which according to him has been creating a lot of division among Ghanaians which can further generate into a possible war in the near future if not checked.
This story received a wide publication as both print and electronic media used it on their websites which caught the attention of his friends from Ghana and beyond some of whom called to condemned him of making such statements.
But the politician has hit back at his critics saying that he is not withdrawing from issuing a warning to the former president to stop practicing tribal politics which has the potency to cause civil strive that will destroy the peace and development the people are enjoying today.
He insisted that all Ghanaians are one people especially Ewes and Ashante’s as there is inter ethnic marriage between Ewes and Ashantes to prove that.
He explained that when one looks around the whole country, the Ewes and Ashante’s have lived in the same community for a very long time across the country peacefully.
“Ewe’s and Ashante children have been in the same schools together, sat on the same desk and played together, ate together as well as slept together in the same dormitories” he challenged.
According to him, this long schooling bond has created a stronger relationship between the Ashnte’s and the Ewe’s with respect to other faith Ghanaians are predominantly Christians and as such are one body.
McDonal Agbenyo, further pointed out that the Ewe’s and Ashante’s have attended the same church like the Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist for many years together adding that this common worship has brought the Ashante’s and Ewe’s together as one people where the statistics are there to back this claim.
“Therefore we should not allow ethnic politics to divide this strong relationship among Ghanaians and more so between Ewes and Ashante’s” he cautioned Ghanaians.
On the political front, he recalled that the first two political parties that were formed in Ghana which was the Convention People’s Party [CPP] and the United Party [UP] there was no tension in terms of tribalism in these two parties as CPP was socialists and capitalism for UP.
But currently, we are seeing a situation whereby is like the NDC is for the Ewe’s and the NPP is for Ashante’s where the voting pattern indicates.

He called on both NDC and NPP to make the strong effort to change this situation by coming out with innovative ideas such as establishing inter party alliance discussions based on truthfulness and transparency to allow the electorate to make inform decisions not based on ethnicity but on ideas.
Finally for Ghana to move forward as a nation, he called on all to accept the fact that ethnicity is just a word created for us as a language and this should not divide us as a people in a nation.
Rather it should unite us as a people to fight the challenges facing us as a country which are poverty, illiteracy, hunger, diseases and lack of jobs as well as external debts as accordingly these are the things we should see as our enemies not one another.
End Story.