...That NDC Is Planning To Plunge Ghana Into Chaos to Prepare Way For Power Sharing

Last Friday, the New Patriotic Party addressed a press conference at which the party sought among others to mislead the nation that the NDC is planning to plunge the country into a state of violence and chaos with a view to forcing a power sharing arrangement.

According to NPP's fantastic daydreaming claims, the NDC is desperately pushing for this power sharing arrangement because the party knows it has no chance of winning the upcoming elections.

Before touching on the baseless claims about power sharing, let us tackle NPP’s claims that the NDC plans to visit violence on the nation.

NDC’s Enviable Record Of Bequeathing A Stable And Peaceful Nation To The Incoming NPP In 2001

The NDC in the year 2000 provided the whole of Africa an example of a model transition of power. The NDC presided over one of the most seamless and smoothest transfer of power from one party to another on the African continent- a phenomenon clearly unknown to countries like Nigeria and Togo that have been the main sources of inspiration to the NPP in the sub region. The democratic dividend that continues to accrue from that beautiful transition has largely contributed to the global image of Ghana as a stable, democratic nation worthy of attracting investments from the four corners of the globe.

So how dare the NPP accuse us of violence and plotting to plunge Ghana into chaos?

The NDC did not show this love for peace and national cohesion only when it was in power. Four years after losing power to the NPP, we once again demonstrated incredible maturity and love for our nation's peace and cohesion when the party led by its candidate, Prof Mills, exhibited incredible maturity when it restrained itself and decided not to react when the NPP in 2004 illegally took the law in its own hands by declaring itself the winner of the 2004 elections.

Is it not ironic that the NPP, which nearly plunged our nation in chaos through that reckless and illegal act, is rather pointing fingers at the NDC, a party that considered the supreme interest of our nation and wisely held back from unleashing its millions of supporters onto the streets of Ghana?

We have not even mentioned the clear instances of massive rigging in favor of the NPP as happened in the Pru and believed to have occurred in many other constituencies as well.

So how dare the NPP accuse us of violence?

NDC’s Track Record Of Cooperating With The EC And Other Parties The NDC has presided over three elections in the history of our country. And the records are there to show that the party in the interest of Ghana acceded to virtually every electoral demand of the opposition especially after the 1992 elections. The following represents a number of key reforms urged by the opposition and acceded to by the NDC.

• Complete Revision of 1992 register

• Introduction of transparent ballot boxes • Establishment of an inter party advisory committee where the parties sat together and discussed issues as equals and very frequently

• annual opening of electoral register to take of newly eligible voters

• Introduction of photo voter ID cards- colour photos

• Voting in the open

• Agreeing that both parliamentary and presidential be held on the same day

• Making sure that parties had copies of register in time

• Ensuring that results were publicly displayed at the national and constituency level

Let us compare the above to what has pertained under the NPP over the last eight years.

IPAC's meetings have been sporadic at best. The views of the parties are not treated seriously as seen in the brazen manner the NPP brushed aside all the views of other parties and pushed ROPAB down the throat of Ghanaians. The ROPAB was another demonstration of NPP's belief in the Rule of Might- the same predisposition that led the party to illegally declare itself winners of the 2004 elections.

The problems that beset the recent registration exercise are well documented and point to the fact that if the EC had heeded the wise counsel of the NDC our people would have been spared all the trauma they had to endure.

The advice of the NDC was ignored as usual and the results were there for all to see. Today the same EC that refused to heed our advice is calling on the NDC and other parties to help it clean the register.

The fact that as a country we have retrogressed from the previous colour photo ID cards to the current black and white captures the NDC’s superior commitment to ensuring that the EC was well resourced to perform its task properly.

The NPP also claims that our complaints about the work of the EC amounts to preparing the grounds to reject the results when the party loses. What the NDC has done is to raise concerns for the right things to be done and every step of the way, our position has been vindicated. The NDC unlike the NPP has never questioned the composition of EC because it has not been consulted before appointments were made. It will be recalled that then candidate Kufuor in the year 2000 went to the extent of questioning the composition of the EC on grounds that the government did not consult the NPP at the time.

How Dare A Super Violent Group Like NPP Accuse NDC Of Violence?

NPP’s attempt to label the NDC as a violent party is a typical case of the black pot calling the kettle black. The most violent political grouping in the history of our country was and continues to be the NPP family.

Which political party in the current electioneering campaign has been engulfed in violence right from the presidential primaries through the parliamentary primaries and beyond? The obvious answer is NPP.

The congress that saw the “questionable election” of Nana Akufo Addo opened the floodgates of violence- it was almost an omen that the candidate taking over the fortunes of the NPP was not a man of peace but was an embodiment of violence and chaos. His henchmen at that congress in collusion with Lord Commey, deliberately created a false alarm that caused a pandemonium and brought about physical scuffles. The same Akufo Addo group blatantly fabricated the lie that Paul Afoko, an assistant to Alan Kyeremanteng, was busy sharing dollars. In the ensuing confusion, Paul Afoko would have been lynched by the supporters of Akufo Addo but for the swift intervention of the police.

From that violent presidential congress, NPP’s violence spread to the party’s parliamentary primaries. The mayhem and bloodletting that characterized the primaries at places like Suhum, Bekwai, Ofinso South etc have been well documented.

Subsequently, the NPP started exporting its violence without- members of the NDC became the next recipients of NPP’s violence. It does not come as a surprise the scale of the violence and the barbarity the NPP has been visiting on the NDC- when a party can visit so much violence on its own members, what kind of mayhem can it not mete to its opponents- when friends of the NPP are not even safe, why should anyone wonder about the brutal treatment they are visiting on their opponents?

Ladies and gentlemen, when you hear the NPP claim that the NDC plans to plunge Ghana into a state of chaos, you should find out whose conduct throughout this season has been characterized by violence. While NDC’s presidential and parliamentary congresses were absolutely peaceful, NPP’s congresses were a theatre of war and bloody confrontation. If Ghana is to be plunged into a state of chaos, it is not difficult to guess which of the two parties is most likely to do that. One just needs to look back on NPP’s chaotic presidential and parliamentary primaries and the answer will be obvious. One should just compare the track record of Prof Mills and that of Nana Addo and there will be no doubt that it is NPP that poses a great danger to Ghana’s peace. The NPP in Gushiegu recently launched an attack that saw several properties of NDC supporters burned down. Later in the night, the lights of Gushiegu town went off and residents heard the arrival of vehicles into the town and for fear of their lives no one came out. They woke up the following morning only to discover to their utter disbelief that 11 stores had been broken into, looted and burnt. All together, forty-two houses and eleven stores at the Gushiegu market were burnt down- all these properties belonged to NDC supporters.

The Gushiegu Constituency Chairman of our party in particular suffered terribly. He had all his three houses completely burnt. The following items belonging to him were also burnt- four long Transport Buses, two long Cargo Trucks, one Tractor and one brand new

Nissan Patrol. The NPP bloody mob did not allow occupants to save any property from the houses. They made sure they took away three large metal boxes containing large sums of monies from the chairman’s daily transport business before setting all the houses ablaze. Such was the scale of the barbarity that the NPP mob made sure that no property belonging to the chairman, his wives, his numerous children or any member of his household could be saved as they threatened to shoot anyone who dares to retrieve any belonging.

Need we remind you of how the NPP supporters killed a scrap dealer who was in the chairman’s house and set his body ablaze? Need we tell you how the NPP attackers proceeded from the chairman’s residence to the house of an 80 year old sub-chief, clubbed him to death, broke his arms and fired at his dead body several times? How they still carried his limp and bloodied corpse and dumped it on a large heap of freshly harvested corn in the house. Let us not go into the detail of how Ayuba was also murdered by the same NPP mob.

The gory and shocking account above should give you an idea of the extent of brutality the NPP is visiting on the NDC- a continuation of the same violence that engulfed its internal party affairs.

Look Which People Are Calling NDC Violent

Ladies and gentlemen, does the NPP examine itself before pointing fingers at others. We in the NDC do not have as Chairman of our campaign, a man like Jake who has never once been heard condemning the terrorist activities of his father- his father who had no qualms distributing bombs that were planted in the hands of little children and caused them to be blown into pieces- and this his father did after taking young Jake out of Ghana and kept him securely in the UK. How Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, a man who clearly condones the Osama Bin Laden terrorist crimes of his father, can even dare call the NDC violent is difficult to understand.

This is the same man who illegally addressed the press conference at which the NPP declared itself winners in December 2004- an act that would have plunged Ghana into chaos but for the nationalism and peaceful nature of the Prof Mills led NDC.

This is the same man who nearly plunged the whole of Dagbon into crisis by ignoring all traditional norms and recklessly announced the murder of the Ya Na. How dare this man talk about violence?

We in the NDC do not have a National Organizer who is a leader of a criminal gang of armed bandits who spread violence and snatch ballot boxes at gun point.

We do not have as General Secretary a man at whom fingers were being pointed following the murder of a party delegate at Akropong Akwapim. And we do not have as candidate a man who claims he abhors violence yet had no problem when his henchmen framed up an innocent Paul Afoko and nearly had him lynched.

So How Dare The NPP Accuse The NDC Of Violence?

It is against this background also that we need to view the so called peace overtures of the NPP. NPP’s track record of broken promises, perfidy, proclaiming peace while unleashing violence makes their call dubious and lacking genuineness. The NDC’s position is that every effort should be deployed to ensure that the EC does it work well to bring about free, fair and transparent polls and that the security forces discharge their duties with professionalism and impartiality. When NPP starts telling the truth and stops breaking its promises, the NDC will start taking its overtures seriously. A party that is busily lying about free education, free heathcare, free bus ride and deliberately shielding its supporters who are breaking the law etc cannot be trusted.

Power sharing and So Called Trip To Kenya

Ladies and gentlemen, the most preposterous claim of the NPP is the talk that the NDC is doing all this with a view to pushing for a power sharing deal. Power sharing? Power sharing with who?

What the people of Ghana need is the end of the rule of the NPP- a rule which has been characterized by Corruption, Cocaine, rise in Crime and Insecurity, massive Deception and Broken Promises, astronomical rise in cost of living, and the general Moving Forward of the personal fortunes of NPP officials and their cronies while the suffering of our people has also been moving forward.

What business does the NDC have, wanting to share power with this group that has so terribly disappointed our people? What business does Prof Mills, a man trusted by the people of Ghana, have wanting to share power with Nana Akufo Addo whose campaign has been characterized by more of the same deception, empty promises and the outright insult of the intelligence of our people?

What Ghanaians want is Change- and Change they shall have come December 7! Besides, in virtually all instances where there has been power sharing, it has always been occasioned by the refusal of an incumbent party to accept defeat after it has lost elections- not when an opposition party has been defeated at the polls.

We in the NDC know that it is rather the NPP that is so desperate to cling on to power at all cost that they are determined to spare no effort including unleashing a state of terror on the country with a view of creating conditions that will call for a power sharing deal when the inevitable defeat at the polls occurs on December 7.

If the NDC were minded to cling to power at all cost, the party in the year 2000 could have resorted to the same tricks used in places like Togo and Nigeria-tricks incidentally approved by the NPP- to remain in power. We never did any such thing- not because we could not but in the interest of national peace and cohesion we placed Ghana first. That is what the NDC did in the past and what we stand for.

It is ironic that the NPP is talking about power sharing- perhaps the party is recalling how they in the aftermath of the 1992 elections pushed for a position that essentially amounted to power sharing.

Ladies and gentlemen, after the crushing defeat at the presidential elections in 1992, the NPP led by then Chairman B.J. Da Rocha met the NDC and essentially pushed for what amounted to a power sharing arrangement. The meeting held at the international conference centre was mediated by the Christian Council, whose Secretary at the time outlined the demands of the NPP which included the following: A demand for 50% of all parliamentary seats and for 40% of executive positions. It is perhaps on account of this that the NPP is so obsessed with power sharing, because long before Kenya and Zimbabwe dreamt about power sharing, NPP was already pushing for it. Perhaps that is why President Kufuor boasts that it was him who successfully brokered the Kenyan power sharing deal.

Against the background that the NPP has a history of pushing for power sharing way back in 1992 and claims by President Kufuor that he was the architect of the Kenyan deal, one wonders why the NDC has to travel all the way to Kenya when both B.J. Da Rocha and President Kufuor are still here with us.

NPP’s claims that the NDC has dispatched its director of International relations to Kenya to go understudy the Kenyan power sharing deal is therefore ridiculous at best.

Mr Kofi Attoh was in Kenya recently where he was a resource person at an international seminar organized by the Fredreich Erbert Foundation (FES). Or is the NPP insinuating that the Fredreich Ebert Foundation is in collusion with the NDC to plunge Ghana into a state of chaos and thereafter push for power sharing.

How a whole political party can be leveling these ludicrous allegations is difficult to understand. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey’s logic is that once any official of the NDC visits a country where there is power sharing deal, then the NDC as a party must be planning for power sharing. By that convoluted logic of Jake, the fact that President Kufuor has gone to the Hague means that he is possibly there to try to cover up trails of the reported Kuwaiti Oil scandal. That is the logic of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. No wonder he got the number of votes he obtained at the NPP Congress?

NPP’s call on the security forces to clamp down on NDC supporters only goes to confirm widespread suspicions that the NPP government plans to unleash the security forces on innocent people when the real culprits are to be found in the ranks of the NPP. This is exactly the kind of approach that has brought about the culture of impunity among NPP thugs and hoodlums all over the country.

The NDC urges members of the security agencies to remember that their foremost duty is to defend the state and the people of Ghana. They have no obligation to obey the instructions of a desperate government willing and ready to employ every trick to cling on to power. Any member of the security forces who allows himself to be misused in such acts should remember that sooner rather than later, the people of Ghana will ensure that justice catches up with him. As to claims that former president Rawlings had insulted our Fanti brethren, the least said about it the better. Clearly NPP is in panic because the central and western regions have this time round decided to join the “Yese sem” bandwagon. Jake and the NPP should focus their energy on apologizing to the hardworking people of Ghana who have been insulted as “lazy” by President Kufuor.

The NDC will continue to focus on the critical issues that matter to our people because we believe that Ghana cannot afford to have four more years of the same corrupt, greedy, selfish government that breaks promises at will and that has no qualms deceiving the people continually.

Thank you very much for coming ladies and gentlemen of the media.