For far too long the impression has been created that one party in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), can bully its way to hold on to power just as it did to secure the accidental power it is holding on to. For far too long some in the more civil New Patriotic Party (NPP) appeared to condone the NDC’s propensity for violence, while many others argued in vain for a strategy of matching the NDC ‘boot for boot.’

NPP-USA is therefore happy to note that it is indeed a new day in Ghana when one party’s apparent monopoly on the use of force comes on the verge of being broken. If the out-of-control NDC thinks it can intimidate Ghanaians with the threat and use of violence to maintain its illegal hold onto power, its leadership and supporters are in for the surprise of their lives. As expressed in one Ghanaian proverb “the inherent bravery of a perceived ‘coward’ is eventually awakened by persistent pursuit”. Our only wish is that Nana Akufo-Addo should have been even more resolute in stating our collective readiness to use overwhelming force to overpower the NDC should it decide to use violence and intimidation in 2012.

An important fact needs to be established from the onset. NDC violence has prolonged ONLY because it was not resisted with equal force. And throughout the world, the most effective resistance to illegitimate use of violence is violence. Peace under lop-sided strength levels is no peace at all. When the former Soviet Union appeared to use unreasonable levels of arms build-up to threaten world peace and to propagate communism, America under President Ronald Reagan responded with an equally unreasonable levels of arms build-up of its own. In the end, when force was confronted with force for the first time, peace prevailed and the Soviet Union collapsed.

The parallels cannot be more accurate. In Ghana the NDC represents the party without ideas to build our country, but with the willingness to use violence and intimidation to maintain a choke hold onto power. Like their Soviet communist masters, they are highly adept at lying and propagating false information to confuse Ghanaians. Not surprisingly, many icons of the out-of-control NDC party were all trained in the former Soviet Union. Even the founder Jerry John Rawlings, rubbed shoulders with the Castros and the Ghadafi’s of the world – a communist brotherhood that, like the Soviets, used socialism to stifle growth at their respective countries.

The NPP, on the other hand represents development in freedom – an ideal borne out of a party-wide belief that Ghanaians deserve an environment free of violence and intimidation so that their God-given ingenuity can blossom. After all, it is this very Ghanaian ingenuity – not government domination of the economic sector – that would ultimately develop Ghana. But for the first time in Ghana, all these noble ideals have come under threat by an NDC party determined to turn back the clock. This group of people are determined to use violence to undo all the progress we made together as a country for the eight prosperous years under President Kufuor, and return Ghana to a socialist state from which many countries are running.

Some may call it warmongering, but the time has come for one party to fight for Ghana’s future. The NPP has been willing to execute this fight for Ghana on peaceful terms. But the elections of 2008 and the three subsequent ones in Akwatia, Chereponi, and Atiwa have demonstrated that in 2012 the NDC plans to use violence to take away the God-given rights of Ghanaians to choose their own leaders. THIS SIMPLY WILL NOT HAPPEN. For the first time, the party that represents Ghana’s future speaks in unison when we say, “we are all prepared to meet the NDC ‘boot for boot’ in the 2012 elections at all levels. If the NDC interprets this to mean violence, then so be it. One thing is for sure: GHANA WILL NO LONGER BE HELD HOSTAGE THROUGH NDC VIOLENCE!

Of course the NDC is free to call our bluff and continue with its plans to use violence in the 2012 elections. While we remain resolute that it would be a mistake for the NDC to call our bluff, we also promise Ghanaians on the honor of the party of Daquah-Busia-Dombo tradition that if the NDC abandons its plans to use violence, the 2012 elections will be the most peaceful one Ghana and indeed Africa will witness. In the end it is really their call to make. But one other thing is for sure: NPP WILL NOT BE BULLIED IN THE 2012 ELECTIONS!

Our leader, Nana Akufo-Addo’s statement in Eastern Region must be seen in its true meaning and in its proper context. It is a ‘carrot and stick’ statement. The ‘carrot’ represents a peaceful, free, and fair 2012 election, which the NPP is fully committed to; the ‘stick,’ on the other hand, represents the NPP’s commitment to meet force with force. He was speaking directly to people in Akwatia and Atiwa and empathizing with the recent brutalities they have suffered from NDC goons. If the NDC plans not to use violence in 2012, this whole issue becomes a mute point. That the NDC would highlight only the ‘stick’ portion of that statement is indicative of what the out-of-control party is all about – violence. As President Ronald Reagan defeated the “Evil Empire” by meeting force with force, so shall the NPP defeat the Evil Party by matching its violence with equal violence, ‘boot for boot”. After all, “all die be die”.

*“We Africans will fight, we find it necessary. And we know we shall win as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.” Bob Marley

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PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE

NPP-USA