Gov`t to free 5,000 from jail

Information reaching The Chronicle indicates that frantic efforts are underway to free over five thousand commercial drivers who were jailed under the new motor traffic laws across the country, because they could not pay the fines imposed on them.

The decision follows a post-mortem exercise carried out by the Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign team, which revealed reasons why the party could not get the anticipated onetouch victory in Sunday’s elections. One factor that came up was the way and manner commercial drivers were arrested and jailed under the new Motor Traffic act.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had benefited from this issue by making political capital out of it, and thus damaging the image of the government in the eyes of the commercial drivers.

The post election analysis also revealed that the decongestion exercises embarked upon by the various Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies did not also help the cause of the party.

Sources within the party told The Chronicle that after diagnosing the problem, Nana Addo and his team have met President Kufuor and pleaded with him to intervene by granting amnesty to the jailed drivers and also put a halt to the decongestion exercise.

This reporter learnt that the President might soon give directives to the appropriate Ministries, especially the Ministry of Interior, to follow due process in granting amnesty to the commercial drivers.

Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi, a leading member of the NPP Research Committee confirmed the story when Chronicle contacted him. According to him, the Campaign and Research teams of the party arrived at that decision because the opposition NDC used it as a propaganda tool to discredit their flagbearer.

To him, though Nana Akufo-Addo is a renowned lawyer and human rights activist, he did not take a critical look at those issues, until the Research Committee drew his attention to it.

Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi, who is also the Constituency Organizer for Okaikoi-North, indicated that the NPP leader had now resolved to put his human rights advocacy into force by ensuring that the rights of people were not infringed upon. Gyamfi further told this reporter that the new motor traffic law was a good one, but the way the police were applying it leaves much to be desired.

He also hinted that all was set for the party to engage in effective and vigorous campaign to trounce the NDC come Sunday, December 28, 2008.

According to him, with Nana Addo now spearheading the campaign team with Mr. Alan Kyerematen taking charge of the Ashanti Region and Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Mr. Boakye Agyarko taking care of Eastern Region, he was certain that the NPP would win the day in the long run.

Meanwhile, President John Agyekum, who played a peripheral role in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) campaign in the build-up to last Sunday’s Presidential and parliamentary elections, is now going to fully participate to ensure that the party retains power.

The Director of Communications for Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign team, Dr. Arthur Kennedy, told Joy fm yesterday that the President is now going to actively participate in the campaign, because the legacy he has bequeathed to Ghanaians must be protected.

He hinted that the President would concentrate his attention in the Central, Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions.