Akufo-Addo behaves like Commander-in-Chief of a vigilante group - Minority

The Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament says President Nana Akufo-Addo’s stance on acts of lawlessness by New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters after their party’s electoral victory is “most disappointing.”

According to the minority caucus, President Akufo-Addo in his state of the nation address on Tuesday, attempted to justify the lawlessness of NPP supporters by saying the acts of violence, thuggery and criminality occurred in 2009 and 2017 under NDC and NPP respectively, which must now cease.

“His justification and equalisation of these shameful acts make him sound more like the Commander-In-Chief of a vigilante group than the Chief-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces who is supposed to be in charge of law and order,” the minority scolded President Akufo-Addo.

Addressing a news conference Wednesday, February 22, 2017, on the state of the nation delivered by President Akufo-Addo, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said the president’s stance was disappointing, especially as “he touts himself as a champion of human rights.”

The minority group said although Ghanaians are witnesses to the “brazen acts of criminality, violence and thuggery unleashed on innocent, law abiding citizens by bandits calling themselves ‘invisible forces’ since the declaration of the results of the December 2016 elections, President Akufo-Addo has failed to act.

“Despite trite knowledge that these NPP thugs are loyal to him [Akufo-Addo] and served as his personal security guards, the President has taken no action against them to end the unprovoked violence against citizens of this country,” the minority stated.

Touch on the other issues, the minority said the president denied Ghanaians the opportunity to have some detail of what to look out for in terms of meeting their expectations over the next four years.

“President Akufo-Addo did not speak about water provision to our communities, he didn’t touch on housing, there was nothing on roads, youth and sports, tourism, and a host of other critical social investments which are important for the survival of our people.

“Even on the things that he touched on, he was high on platitudes and short on substance. Lofty rhetoric and propaganda dominated vast segments of his delivery and in the end, an opportunity was missed by him to carry Ghanaians along on his much-vaunted promises,” the minority pointed out.