....Western NPP Reacts

The Western Regional Branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reacted to the statement made by Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings in Kumasi last week at the inauguration of the Women's Wing of the NDC at Aboabo in Kumasi, calling for positive defiance against the government.

A press statement issued in Takoradi and signed by the party's Regional Secretary, Mr. Francis Quansah said the statement should ordinarily not be anything for those in the NPP to worry about. It however observed that "he who has tasted the bite of a snake is wary of a worm" and therefore, the statement, coming from somebody with a notorious track record of coup makings, should not be taken lightly”.

The statement said "Even those of us who have short memories cannot forget Rawlings' utterances in 1981 when he went junketing around the country inciting Ghanaians against the Limann Government, which he eventually overthrew”. It added that, "We of the NPP in the Western Region also find it hypocritical for supporters of National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Ex-President to consider the invitations by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) as an illegality”.

The NPP branch referred to the 19-year-old regime of Rawlings, saying that it recorded the worst abuses of people when the security agencies picked up people from their homes and detained them without the knowledge of their families. It said the "very people who saw nothing wrong in the acts of kidnapping and keeping people at the Castle and having their heads shaved as identification marks" are now fuming over a civilized way of inviting the Ex-President.

The statement said the BNI is a legitimate security apparatus put in place by Ex-President Rawlings himself, adding: "We are at a loss as to why he is now running away from the very institution he had left behind for the nation to use to ensure our collective security and surety." It said "Ex-President Rawlings is not above the law, and his followers should not dream or imagine that he is above the law”.

The statement said the NPP as a party, cherishes the rule of law and therefore the government has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the nation. The statement added, "The government will not be intimidated by the very proponents of accountability who will now want to hide under the umbrella of assumed witch-hunting and harassment to escape from justice.