Opinions of Thursday, 15 June 2017

Columnist: Alhaji Alhasan Abdulai

Agitating foot soldiers

The youths are part of the party but they must know that they are not a law on themselves The youths are part of the party but they must know that they are not a law on themselves

Party foot soldiers though useful, must end illegal agitations and take overs

It is true that every political party depends on active support and hard work of youth movements within to win elections.

However, a section of the once darling boys of the New Patriotic Party [NPP] are stretching their dynamism to dangerous and unproductive areas.

The youths are part of the party but they must know that they are not a law on themselves, but must follow the rules of their party and tenets of the constitution as the government performs its duties in peace.

After the unsuccessful attempt to deny the newly appointed Security Coordinator of Ashanti Region some members of the Delta Force in the Ashanti Region have now found themselves on the wrong side of the law, struggling to free themselves from being convicted. It amounts to fool hardiness on the part the youth whose party is in power.

These young men must be wary of those people from within advising them to go on this dangerous tangent. It looks as if the Delta Force is not alone in this unlawful acts.

Soon after the election that brought the NPP to power some youths attempted to take over some offices of National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS], toll booths and other government offices in much the same way that we experienced when the National Democratic Congress [NDC] came to power in 2008.

The takeover bids as illegal as they are, are still ongoing, with the youth belonging to NPP currently engaging in acts meant to prevent the newly appointed District Chief Executive [DCE] of Savulugu in the Northern Region from performing her work. The Minister of Local Government, Hajiah Halima Mahama has cried out to the youth to allow the DCE who was held hostage for a month, to perform her duties.

The youth might have an axe to grind, since they say the DCE is an alien to Savulugu. But the action taken by them is wrong because the lady was properly appointed by the President. She also got approval from the assemblymen in line the law governing appointment of a DCEs.

Being without locus the action taken by the youth constitute illegality. They must end the embarrassing agitations to channel their grievances through the right party channels.

Mr. Sammy Awuku is the youth organizer of the ruling NPP now eager to become the new National Organizer of the party. He knows and appreciates really the contributions of the youth who need to be assisted. But the method they have adopted is crude and unlike NPP which comes across as a law abiding party.

The time has come for the entire machinery of the party from the presidency to the national executive to call the youths to order before they cause damage to their party and also cause havoc to the nation.