General News of Saturday, 26 November 2011

Source: The Herald

NPP Meeting Ivorian Rebels Over 2012 Elections

*Nana Addo, Jake, Bamba & Others On Security Watch List Kobby Acheampong reveals *

With less than a year left for the General elections, the government has disclosed that some elements in the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), whose reckless utterances and posturing point to an eminent electoral violence, are being watched by the security agencies, not to plunge the country into chaos.

Deputy Minister for Interior, Mr Kobby Acheampong, who dropped this news yesterday, said government was aware that the NPP elements were having secret meetings with some Ivorian combatants, who escaped arrest and fled to Ghana, following the Cote D’iovire electoral violence that degenerated into a civil strife.

The secret meetings, he suggested, are with an evil intention to have the fugitive rebels spark trouble in Ghana, during the forthcoming elections.

For this reason, these elements of the NPP –the National Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, National Organizer Moctar Bamba, the flagbearer, Nana Addo and others like Peter Mac-Manu; a former chairman are all being watched with an eagle’s eye in order to nib their evil intentions in the bud, and conserve the peace and tranquility that the country is enjoying..

All these personalities have made very threatening remarks about the forthcoming elections. Obetsebi Lamptey, had said that the 2012 elections, could become violent, especially when the Akans, who are in the majority in Ghana just like in Cote d’Ivoire, feel aggrieved as happened in that country (Cote D’iovire) .

Nana Akufo- Addo on the other hand declared that the election was going to be an “all-die-be-die” affair. Moctar Bamba also said he was training thugs called Bamba Boys to crush the NDC’s Azoka Boys.

Ex-NPP National Chairman, Peter Mac Manu, also announced recently that the NPP would be fighting with the NDC with any weapon at their disposal, including guns, sticks and stones, adding that the guns will be licensed ones only.

Prior to these utterances, Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe and Mr. Anthony Abrefa Karbo, NPP National Youth Organizer, also announced that the 2012 election was going to be a “guerrilla warfare” and an “Afghanistan Affair” respectively.

Mr. Acheampong, however, insisted that the Presidential Communication Director Koku Anyidoho was speaking from a privileged position when he announced in an interview with Focus Radio in London, United Kingdom, that the Mills government will not compromise on the peace and security of the country.

The Deputy Interior Minister who together with Kwadwo Twum-Boafo of the Free Zones Board and the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, took turns to speak on the Accra-based Radio Gold, was unambiguous in declaring that the NPP will not have its way to destroy the country.

The three leading NDC personalities, who sounded very enraged, revealed that the government had placed the security agencies on red alert to deal strongly and ruthlessly with any person or group of persons who are bent on burning down the country just to have access to power.

Mr. Kwadwo Twum-Boafo, in particular, took issues with civil society organisations, especially the clergy, on its deafening silence on NPP MP for Assin North, Kennedy Agyepong’s assertion that Ghana risked becoming like Rwanda where an estimated 800,000 people died in a genocide, at the 2012 polls.

Quoting a song by ace Ghanaian Highlife musician, Nana Kwame Ampadu, which says in Twi that: “Wo pe wo wuo a wo benya” meaning “he who looks for his death gets it” the Free Zones Board Boss insisted that the NDC, and for that matter the Mills administration would not sit unconcerned and allow the NPP to rain fire and brinstone on the good people of Ghana.

Mr. Twum-Boafo cautioned supporters of the NPP who would want to heed to the war drums of their leaders not to be fooled because both Akufo-Addo and Kennedy Agyepong are financially secured to seek refuge abroad with their families after destroying the country.

He recalled how Kennedy Agyepong was the last MP elect to be sworn into Parliament, by the Speaker, Mrs. Joyce Bamfo-Addo, after fleeing from the country, following the NDC 2008 victory, adding that “Mr. Agyepong is a coward who should not fool anybody”.

On his part, Mr. Ankrah, was emphatic that any attempt by the NPP to create violence in this country “will be crushed strongly and ruthlessly if the NPP dare”.

He said in 2008, despite the violence deplored by the NPP to rig the elections especially in the Volta Region, the NDC faced them with its bare hands and went on to win, adding that attempts to replicate a similar scenario in 2012 will be swiftly foiled with precision.

He assured Ghanaian not to be unfazed with the threats of violence