BREAKING News: NDC Hawks fire gunshots at NDC Regional meeting; one person dead, another in critical condition

News reaching MyNewsGh.com from the Ashanti Regional Office of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) indicates that one person has been shot dead while another is nursing serious injuries following an attack by the NDC hawks vigilante group.

The Hawk members who were identifiable by their outfit were four in number and arrived at the venue with motorbikes, armed with cutlasses and pistols.

MyNewsGH.com’s Ashanti Regional Reporter who was at the scene said the armed Machomen believed to belong to the NDC’s Hawks vigilante group stormed the venue to stop the NDC Ashanti Regional Consultative meeting from coming on.

Present in the meeting were NDC Regional Executives as well National Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia who run for their lives when the gunshots started.

In the melee that ensued, a member of the NDC Regional Taskforce, one Wasiu was shot dead.

The exact reason for their presence was unclear. What was obvious, according to our reporter, was that they just didn’t want the meeting to come on.

The injured are receiving treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, while the body of Wasiu has been deposited at the morgue pending investigation.

Police have taken over the party office. No arrests have been made so far.

This comes on the back of a national discussion on the role of vigilante groups within political parties in Ghana and the need to disband them.

Ongoing is a Commission of Inquiry sitting chaired by Emile Short to look into the disturbances that occurred during the Ayawaso By-election in which hoodlums in National Security outfit visited mayhem on civilians believed to be NDC members.

Former President John Mahama has said the NDC is prepared to match the ruling party “boot for boot” if the attack on NDC members persists.

Disband groups

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has warned both the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and other political parties, to dissolve all vigilante groups within their respective parties.

Their charge to the political parties, at the time, follows the tensions initiated by the NPP-affiliated Delta Force group in the Ashanti Region capital, Kumasi.

The actions of the group started with an assault of the Regional Security Coordinator at his office, and another attack at a Circuit Court leading to escape of some of its members who were standing trial in court.

The NCCE cautioned Ghanaians that “the discourse of activities of vigilantism should not be politicized, but should be addressed dispassionately with the nation’s interest and security at heart.”

Source: MyNewsGh.com