Politics of Monday, 19 February 2007

Source: Ghanaian Observer

NDC Disowns Fetish Priests

The Member of Parliament for Ho East, Mrs. Juliana Azuma-Mensah has reacted angrily to reports by sections of the media suggesting that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) leadership masterminded reported curses by some fetish priests at Keta on the President when the party held a rally to show solidarity to their jailed colleague, Dan Abodakpi.

Speaking to the Ghanaian Observer GO newspaper in Parliament last week, Mrs. Azumah Mensah described the reports as `unfortunate,` saying the people of Keta on their own volition decided to unleash curses of the deities on the President and the ruling Government on suspicion that they were behind the sentencing of their Member of Parliament.

According to her, the NDC went to Keta to visit constituents as a sign of solidarity with their jailed colleague and also to use the occasion to educate the constituents on events leading to the sentencing of Mr. Abodakpi. On arrival, however, they realised to their surprise that the people of Keta were in an almost mini rally with their fetish priests angrily cursing the President while a woman was also seen virtually rubbing her naked buttocks on the ground.

Continuing, Mrs. Azuma-Mensah explained that upon seeing the anger of the people, the NDC leadership did their best to calm their nerves and explained issues relating to the jail sentence to them, stressing that the NDC never organised fetish priests to act in a manner as is being propagated by the Volta Regional Minister, Mr. Kofi Dzamesi. She held that the NDC should rather be congratulated for their timely intervention in cooling tempers at Keta.

It will be recalled that in the aftermath of the jail sentence slapped on Dan Abodakpi, former Minister of Trade and Industry in the NDC administration and one-time music teacher, the NDC went to Keta for a rally to show solidarity to their jailed colleague. According to media reports, the rally had as one of its bizarre highlights a saga of weirdly dressed fetish priests from the Keta constituency cursing the President and engaging in anti-government rituals. The media reports, which were re-echoed by the Volta Regional Minister, Kofi Dzamesi indicated that the NDC masterminded the action of the fetish priests and painted the party as a fetish entity. This prompted the reaction from the Ho East Member of Parliament in an interview with GO.

Other leading figures in the NDC have also slammed the media reports linking them to the Keta fetish priests` open show in the constituency. Former Minister Dan Abodakpi is currently cooling off in prison after being handed a 10 year jail sentence by an Accra Fast Track High Court for his involvement in a reported $400,000 financial loss to the state. His incarceration sparked protests from the NDC and elements in the Keta constituency, thus prompting the local fetish priests to join the attack against government.