NDC backing Ofosu Ampofo against CID call for anarchy – Pius Hadzide

A Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Enam Hadzide, has said the advice from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for their chair, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, to decline the invitation of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service is a recipe for chaos in the country.

The CID Wednesday invited Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo to assist the police investigate some cases of kidnappings and arson, but some members of the party including the party’s Council of Elders and flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, deemed the invitation an act of victimization.

Mr. Ofosu Ampofo’s lawyers had also stated that their client could not honour the invitation for various reasons, but it turned out late Friday, there were some meetings between the two parties with a strong indication of Mr. Ofosu Ampofo’s presence in one of the said meetings.

Speaking on TV3’s Saturday morning show, The Key Points, the Deputy Information Minister acknowledged that, while it may be within the rights of the National Chairman to decline the CID’s invitation, the conduct of the NDC did not augur well for democracy.

“I’m particularly saddened that for a party that was in power just a few years back, a party that seeks the mandate of the people, to seek to attack the very foundation of governance,” he bemoaned.

Mr. Hadzide said Mr. Ofosu Ampofo could have declined the invitation without making a scene as was characterised by a press conference addressed by the party’s elders.

“This is an invitation and you can decline it, so you decline it, what is the razzmatazz about, calling press conferences, calling your Council of Elders and that’s where it becomes worrisome,” he observed.

He claimed the NDC has by extension sent a directive to all former ministers of state and government appointees not to honour the invitations of state investigation institutions, a move he said is “an invitation to anarchy”.

The former Deputy Sports Minister explained that NDC’s conduct “creates a certain sense of lack of control” and seeks to “make the system ungovernable”.

He, however, noted that the government and the law enforcement agencies will not allow the NDC hold the country to ransom.