Some armed military and police personnel were seen on Wednesday wrenching anti-Akufo-Addo posters and placards from ordinary citizens of Navrongo, who had lined up the streets with the intention of raising them in protest to the president’s failure to fulfil certain campaign promises.
Some of the placards read: “Mr President, stop renaming and build your own”, “Mr President, we want dams not dugout”, “Mr President, where is our one million dollars?” and “NPP is a scam”.
Amidst the melee, some of the protesters were heard telling the army and police personnel that: “You know what, we are now going to hoot at him [president]”, while others also said: “This is not a military rule, this is a democracy”, yelling: “Shame” on the soldiers and police officers.
They questioned why they are paying the soldiers and police officers with their tax money but are “intimidating us instead of protecting us”.
“Why are you fighting us?” one of the protesters asked the soldiers and police officers.
Meanwhile, the Navrongo Central arm of the main opposition National Democratic Congress has issued a statement accusing officials of the Akufo-Addo administration of acting criminally, by defacing and removing posters of parliamentary aspirants of the party.
Dr Selanwiah Abdul-Mumin, the party’s Constituency Secretary Dr Abdul-Mumin revealed that during the president’s visit to Navrongo on Wednesday, 14 August 2019, some government officials and other dignitaries who were in charge of the organisation of a grand durbar removed posters of the NDC aspirants.
This, he said in a statement, smacks of criminality, which is punishable by law.
His statement said: “Yesterday, the President, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo joined the chiefs and people of Navrongo at a durbar organised in his honour and later inspected ongoing projects in the area. As part of preparations leading to the grand durbar, the Municipal Engineer, one Mr Moses, clandestinely removed and shredded some of the banners and other party paraphernalia belonging to the parliamentary aspirants of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the constituency.
“When he was contacted, he claimed the banners were obstructing traffic and needed to be removed. However, those spaces were later to be filled with large banners with NPP colours, with the President’s picture embossed on them, seen mounted in the same places where the banners of NDC were.
“This act is criminal and a punishable offence by law. It is an act of flagrant discard for freedom of association and choice, considering the fact that the NDC is heading for parliamentary primaries in the Navrongo Central Constituency. This obvious act of lawlessness got sympathisers of the NDC, as well as other well-meaning people very upset, and who were massing up to retaliate in equal measure. It took the leadership of the party in the constituency to calm nerves and resolve this issue amicably.”
It continued: “Navrongo is well-noted across the country as a peaceful town, but the actions of these political charlatans and stooges who are clouded by political party jingoism and chauvinism could disrupt the peace and serenity we have enjoyed all these years. There is a thin line between peace and violence and we must all work together to safeguard this. We have practised multiparty democracy for long and we must not allow a self-acclaimed human rights lawyer who multiparty democracy and free speech heralded him to the throne of power to derail these efforts through tyranny and fascism.
“The worst of it all happened on the day of the durbar, where security forces launched a very bloody crackdown on unarmed civilians who were expressing their disgust and frustration over unfulfilled promises and other misgivings in the country through placards at their base, bringing the otherwise healthy and peaceful protest to a screeching halt. Violence flared in the base following this distasteful raid by the uniformed and armed officers of the Police and Ghana Armed Forces. The horrific rampage left some people injured and many with psychological trauma.
“The citizens have the right to question a President who has spent nearly three years in office without having any development project to show. The NPP promised the people a plethora of things in 2016. We want to ask: where are the dams and their specs in Navrongo? Where are the factories they promised? Where is the $1 million per year they promised the Navrongo Central Constituency? Why is Gregory Afoko still in custody when a court of competent jurisdiction granted him bail? The citizens want to know whether we still live in a military junta. President Akufo-Addo should focus on delivering these lofty promises rather to the people. One such failed promise is the shoddy dugouts that have been constructed in some parts of Navrongo in the name of 1V1D. The venerable Paramount Chief of Navrongo was right yesterday when he asked President Akufo-Addo to tell him and his people about the real specification of those poorly-constructed dams.
“The Jubilee House has become the hub of corruption scandals, the latest being the PDS/ECG scandal which has promised to be the biggest financial skulduggery in our time. This latest scandal is allegedly associated to the President and his family where 51 per cent of the shares of ECG is allegedly doled out to the President and his cronies under fraudulence manoeuvring. The Oslo scandal is still fresh in the people’s mind where buying properties to use as embassy buildings in Oslo at an astronomical price of U$16.5 million. The price of the chancery building had been inflated by as much as US$8 million. The asking price was outrageously high and outlandishly inflated and all these financial malfeasances were allegedly pointing to the President and his family. This government led by Nana Akufo-Addo has an insatiable appetite for corruption, and it is not out of place for the citizens to ask how their taxes are being appropriated.
“We cannot be political spectators who will only watch with horror and with bemusement. We cannot be spectators to allow you to continue to besmirch the country’s name and reputation through your penchant for violence and hooliganism. The murmurs of fed-up citizens will dismantle the hegemony of you and your cohorts in 2020, and your family will be swept into political oblivion by the brooms of change. The citizens have felt the cold shadow of nearly the past three years so cruel and iniquitous that it has at times threatened to eclipse the very achievement we had during the past regimes.
“The risk of widespread violence in the 2020 elections is at its crescendo. We must resist these acts of intimidation and the bandwagon of constant attacks on political opponents during elections. All well-meaning Ghanaians, including our chiefs, must condemn these unwarranted attacks on our people. We also call for an independent investigation into this distasteful issue.”
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM
Video Credit: 3 News
