NPP condemns NDC's attacks on NPP and President

Accra, Aug. 17 GNA - The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Thursday condemned National Democratic Congress (NDC) for linking it to narcotic drugs deals and the insults a leading member of NDC heaped on the person of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Nana Ohene Ntow, General Secretary of NPP, told a Press briefing in Accra that President Kufuor on Saturday expressed concern 93about the attempts always made by the NDC to politicise the cocaine matter to their advantage whilst consciously trying to prevent others from doing the same when the boot was on the other foot".

He said: "The President has not accused any persons or group of persons of dealing in cocaine. The President has absolute confidence in the Committee set up to investigate the matter and would not do anything to undermine its work.

"The President's comments as they relate to Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo were rather simple, direct and devoid of any insult. What the President did in the case of Mr Nunoo was to play back Mr Nunoo's own statements and suggested that these statements needed to be examined more closely", he said.

Nana Ntow said: "The President did not accuse Mr Nunoo of dealing in drugs and certainly does not wish anything evil for Mr Nunoo but considering Mr Nunoo's closeness to the suspected drug baron and roles he played in his business for only one million cedis a month, it is normal for any one to think that Mr Nunoo may know more than he has told us.

"We want to suggest that we all keep our emotions and look at the facts as stated by Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo to the Committee as re-echoed by the President," Mr Ohene-Ntow said.

On the assertion by the NDC that President Kufuor's comments were prejudicial to the Committee's work, Nana Ohene-Ntow said the NDC was guiltier, especially since it held a press conference to tell Ghanaians that the Committee was not good enough and that a parliamentary commission should rather be established.

He condemned Mr Mettle Nunoo's outburst saying it was a major test of democratic governance by the NPP.

=94Since the Saturday Mr Nunoo began these attacks on the President, he has continued to enjoy his freedom, and rightly so, as a free citizen of this land. If Mr Nunoo had conducted himself this way under the NDC regime, I can assure him that as surely as the day follows the night he would have gone missing like all others, who vanished from the surface of the earth when his masters reigned supreme in the land,=94 the General Secretary said.

He said President Kufuor expressed concern about attempts always made by the NDC to politicise the cocaine matter to their advantage whilst trying to prevent others from doing the same when the boot was on the other foot.

"If parties are going to be responsible for actions of their individual members then let's set the records straight for all parties, otherwise individuals should be held responsible for their actions;" he said, adding that what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander.

Nana Ohene-Ntow said he believed that Ghanaians were safer under President Kufuor and his Government and called on Ghanaians to always pray for the Government.

He asked: "Does Rojo Mettle Nunoo really expect the good people of Ghana to believe that he accepted one million cedis a month for his consultancy - when a secretary of the company was earning 2,000 dollars per month?

He said: 93Mr Mettle Nunoo is the one who wrote to the Ghana Immigration Service requesting for entry visas 91on arrival' for some of the drug suspects, who were currently on trial in Ghana here. Why did he do this?

"It is also known that Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo booked for hotel accommodation for some of these drug barons and signed for it. What is the significance of this action?"