Inter-Party Coalition to hit the streets Thursday

The Inter-Party Coalition will on Thursday 7th Feb., hit the streets to register their displeasure about the barbaric conduct that characterized Thursday’s by-election.

According to the group, the "creeping lawlessness" in the country, coupled with the "growing atmosphere of insecurity" in which many millions now live, demands serious, honest introspection about the present state of our politics.

The group describes as "unlawful" and unacceptable, the use of the powers of the state for personal ends and the visitation of terror on the innocent, especially in last Thursday's Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency by-election.

In a statement copied Peacefmonline.com, they urged "all well meaning Ghanaians" to join in the peaceful demonstration to "register their utmost disgust" about the electoral violence that occasioned the by-election.

"Enough is enough. We urge all well-meaning Ghanaians to join us next Thursday in our march through the streets of Accra, to be bold and fearless in their denunciation of the diminution of our great nation and the values for which it stands. This is not a matter of petty partisan politics. It is a question of national survival, for the events of yesterday are but a precursor to a far worse in the 2020 elections.

We are all pledged to defend this nation against tyranny and against all its enemies, foreign and domestic. We are all pledged to defend the great inheritance that the founder of this nation bestowed upon us and on our generations. Do your duty for posterity, for your God, and for your country by participating in the next Thursday's mass demonstration", the statement added.

Below Is A Copy Of The Statement.

INTER-PARTY COALITION FOR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY



PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE BRUTALITIES, BREAKDOWN OF SECURITY AND THE ELECTORAL FRAUD OF THE AYAWASO WEST WUOGON BY-ELECTIONS.

The barbaric conduct that characterised yesterday’s by-election demands of all of us a hard look in the mirror. It begs serious, honest introspection about the present state of our politics, the growing atmosphere of insecurity in which many millions of our compatriots now live, and the creeping lawlessness in our nation.

The people of Ayawaso West Wuogon were subjected to an occupation of terror that was sanctioned and abetted by the government of Nana Akufo Addo. He, together with the gaggle of selfish, shameless sycophants that now lead the New Patriotic Party, made a mockery of the dignity and decency of Ghanaian democracy.

Their renowned cowardice was laid bare by the voter intimidation that marred the polls, by the unconscionable violence perpetrated against innocent citizens by armed thugs in their employ. The world bore witness yesterday to another step in Ghana’s race to the bottom, another step towards the devolution of Kwame Nkrumah’s great society into a banana republic. Yesterday’s events demeaned us as a people, and ridiculed our hard-won reputation as the beacon of democracy in Africa. Make no mistake - we are a nation in descent.

Within the space of three hours yesterday morning, we witnessed the mindless shooting of six Ghanaians during an attempt to break into the family home of an opposition parliamentary candidate. We witnessed the violent assault of several dozens more with the implements of lethal violence - knives, cudgels, axes and much worse. And we saw the blood-soaked streets and the bullet-riddled walls of homes and businesses in a working class neighborhood in the aftermath. All of these were perpetrated by a battalion of marauding goons masquerading as agents of the security services, a private army of hoodlums, criminals and traitors.



We witnessed an attack on a sitting Member of Parliament for daring to challenge the terrorists who perpetrated this senseless violence. And this in the forecourt of a junior high school where pupils were in session, in the full glare of the general public, the media and the police.

Similar assaults were visited on national executives of the leading opposition party, including several of its leading women. We witnessed the intimidation of officials of the Electoral Commission, party agents, and election observers. And personnel of the security services who dared to intervene in defense of the rule of law were not spared from the bestial violence and the utter impunity of its agents. To the victims of these terrorists and to their families and loved ones, we extend our heartfelt hopes for a speedy recovery and a solemn promise before almighty God that you will have your justice. You are on the minds and in the prayers of true patriots across this nation.

The wanton disregard for the law and for human life witnessed yesterday; the denigration of the norms of our civic life; the unlawful use of the powers of the state for personal ends; the grant of impunity to political cronies; the visitation of terror on the innocent - these are the hallmarks of the government of the day. This is who Nana Akufo Addo and his goons are and have always been. The decision of the National Democratic Congress to withdraw from the electoral process was not born out of cowardice, but rather caution and restraint. They could have met the violence of boys with the violence of men but chose to place the stability of the nation over narrow political interests.

But caution and restraint have their limits, and Nana Akufo Addo must be made aware that he is setting the nation on the warpath. We, the opposition, will not tolerate any repeat of the temper tantrums of a spoiled septuagenarian brat playing president. If it is a knife fight he wants, we shall oblige him to the hilt. He and his cabal of amateurs know this all too well and are right to be afraid. This is no threat - it is a promise.



To the IGP and the leadership of the police service who stood idly by as innocent Ghanaians were terrorised and brutalised, we demand that you pursue and prosecute yesterday’s crimes and the terrorists responsible to the fullest extent of the law. You are sworn to the defense of the constitution and are vested with the people’s power to act in defense of the laws they have set for themselves. If you continue to prove inept at that task, and persist in the display of your partisan colors, you will have yourselves to blame when the moment of reckoning arrives. Stand up for what is right and defend the dignity and honor of your service! Stand up for Ghana!

We shall issue a call to the masses of Ghanaians to join us in a protest march against the complicity of the state in the violence at Ayawaso West Wuogon. We fully expect that you will do your duty and ensure the safety of the thousands who shall march with us in defense of the constitution of this republic next Thursday, February 7.

To the members of the press gathered here and beyond, we urge you to remember that democracy dies in the dark. Do not allow yourselves to be coopted into the laughable attempt to spin the obvious complicity of Nana Akufo Addo’s government and his party in the events of yesterday. The facts that we have mentioned today came from eye witness reports filed by journalists of some of the most reputable media houses in Ghana, and directly from the statement released last night by the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers.

You are the ultimate guardians of this democracy and the promise of its freedoms, because you are the arbiters of truth, transparency, and accountability in our society. All of those things were attacked by the masked terrorists who made a mockery of our democratic institutions and security apparatus. Your eyes do not lie, nor your ears deceive. The people of Ghana deserve to know the truth of yesterday’s events. The peace and stability of this nation rests on your commitment to honest, objective, unbiased reporting. The future of Ghana depends on it.

Our quest for justice will not end at our borders. We, the opposition, are in the process of submitting to the United Nations, the African Union and Ghana’s development partners concrete video and photographic evidence of the facts we have stated here today. Our submissions will include evidence that directly identifies several of the supposed national security operatives as personal guards of the leadership of the New Patriotic Party, and will offer substantive proof of the complicity of occupant of the Presidency of Ghana and senior officials of his government in the premeditated violence and bloodshed.

Enough is enough. We urge all well-meaning Ghanaians to join us next Thursday in our march through the streets of Accra, to be bold and fearless in their denunciation of the diminution of our great nation and the values for which it stands. This is not a matter of petty partisan politics. It is a question of national survival, for the events of yesterday are but a precursor to a far worse in the 2020 elections. We are all pledged to defend this nation against tyranny and against all its enemies, foreign and domestic. We are all pledged to defend the great inheritance that the founder of this nation bestowed upon us and on our generations. Do your duty for posterity, for your God, and for your country by participating in the next Thursday's mass demonstration.