The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has noted with concern and disgust the accusation by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the NDC masterminded the shameful incident that took place at the NPP headquarters in Accra yesterday. Media reports indicate that “violent protests by some aggrieved supporters of the opposition New Patriotic Party has disrupted a press conference called by the party's National Chairman and General Secretary”.
According to reports, “the Headquarters of the NPP was the scene of mayhem and violent confrontation between different factions of the party. Some supporters of the party besieged the headquarters threatening to attack the party chairman Paul Afoko and General Secretary Kwabena Agyapong. The two were addressing a press conference on the recent controversy over a directive to the party's acting director of communications Perry Okudzeto to proceed on leave. The conference had to be stopped abruptly as a result of the mayhem. However, Joy News' Kwakye Afreh-Nuamah reports that about ten men wielding cutlasses said to be guards at the party headquarters attempted to attack a man in a four-wheel drive parked just in front of the headquarters”.
While other media networks corroborated this nasty act, the embattled NPP chairman Mr. Paul Afoko unashamedly found it logical to point accusing fingers at the NDC as perpetrating that dastardly act which created panic and uneasy calm at Asylum Down and its environs, the location of the NPP headquarters. The NPP chairman, once a victim of that barbaric act from his own camp some years ago, was insistent that hired thugs from the NDC should be held responsible for the clashes that took place under his nose, even when it was obvious that the mayhem was warranted by a clash between NPP’s notorious security force, otherwise known as the INVINCIBLE FORCE and some party macho men loyal to a section of the party’s power brokers. In a sharp contrast Nana Ohene Ntow, a former General Secretary of the party had told the media that some party people pushed the perpetrators to execute that inhuman act, stressing that “they are pushed by well-placed people in the party, and that it is possible to locate the perpetrators”. According to Nana Ohene Ntow there was a threat against the press conference a day before the scheduled date, addressed by the Chairman Afoko and the General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, the two embattled senior executives of the NPP, by some aggrieved members of the party, warning that, the intended press conference would be disrupted if they went ahead to organize it.
In an interview this morning on Peace FM’s Kokroko hosted by Kwame Sefa Kayi, Kwabena Agyapong also, exonerated the NDC, explaining that it was not NDC thugs but some bodyguards loyal to some NPP big men who orchestrated the clashes. According to the General Secretary, those NPP bodyguards could be identified easily.
The First Vice Chairman and member of NPP’S Steering Committee, Mr. Freddy Blay, also, in an interview with a section of the media exposed the NPP Chairman’s lies that the press conference was endorsed by the steering committee. This confirms some NPP followers’ accusation against the chairman and the general secretary of lack of consultation and, taking decision without the blessing of the party hierarchy. Mr. Freddy Blay described Chairman Afoko’s assertion that the NPP Steering Committee had discussed the dismissal of the party’s communication director as a blatant lie.
The NDC views the NPP Chairman’s pronouncement as unfortunate and disturbing. It is regrettable, undoubtedly, coming from a frustrated leader guiding a party plagued with division, mistrust, confusion, frustration and desperation. The least said about the NPP General Secretary, described by his own party members as arrogant and vindictive, the better. The NPP duo, according to their own party members, has gain notoriety for making conflicting statement thereby exposing their consistency in churning out falsehood. The NPP General Secretary had barely before the mayhem accused a section of his own party members for using the party machinery to attack and run him down, thereby undermining party discipline. So, it would be unfair for his party chairman to attribute such lawless act to the NDC.
The NDC wishes to remind Ghanaians that acts of violence and vandalism is nothing new in the NPP family. We would not have bothered ourselves with the ongoing internal wrangling of the NPP, since this has consistently become their trademark. But the fact that they falsely accuse the NDC for masterminding the unfortunate incident, we have no option than bring to the public our position for the good people of this country to make their own judgement.
Ironically, Paul Afoko himself was a victim of attack by NPP hoodlums; in fact he was severely attacked at the party’s conference in 2007. The NPP’s Conference at Suhum to elect a parliamentary aspirant turned bloody resulting in the postponement of that election on countless dates. A similar conference at Ho witnessed indiscriminate throwing of petrol bombs causing injuries. A leading member of the party, Dr. Wereko Brobbey was nearly lynched at the Party’s headquarters for his comments on the election petition when he was summoned by the NPP’s Council to explain what they described as anti-party conduct, though he was exercising his democratic right as a Ghanaian. These are but a few examples of NPP’s violent escapades.
The NPP’s undemocratic and violent jaunt is not limited to only their followers. Yesterday, they demonstrated once again that they are anti-media. Media personnel who had gone to cover the press conference had to run for their lives to avoid incurring the wrath of the NPP marauding forces that were at each other’s throats, contrary to Afoko’s illogical and conflicting assertion that the heavily-built combatants were “intruders” from the NDC.
The NDC reminds the NPP that their actions and inactions are potentially inimical to the growth and development of the country’s fledgling democracy, which has become a model for the outside world. We therefore, encourage the NPP executives to endeavour to address concerns of arrogance, confusion, conflicts, and disrespect for party rules and regulations which have consistently been raising tensions and violence in their party to save lives and property. As a major opposition party, we expect the NPP to exhibit a high sense of responsibility and caution by shunning acts that have the tendency to disturb the peace in the country.
The NDC condemns the unwarranted attack on the media whose only crime at the scene was to make public the indiscipline and violent conduct by the unruly NPP lawless followers. We do not think the media and Ghanaians should be at the receiving end of mayhem orchestrated by NPP’s internal conflicts.
The NDC, while calling on the NPP executives to call their followers to order, appeal to the police and the security agencies to conduct full investigations into yesterday’s clashes at the premises of the NPP to ensure peace and security in the country, and bring the perpetrators to book.
SIGNED – 20/08/14
Yaw Boateng Gyan, National Organizer.