Peace Council reacts to Asiedu Nketiah’s ‘betrayal’, gunshots at Mahama’s office allegations

The National Peace Council of Ghana (NPC) has reacted to claims by the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, that the betrayal by the council was among the reasons the party won’t congratulate President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his 2020 election victory.

In a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, the NPC stated that reports of the statement by the NDC chairman, who was the party’s General Secretary in 2020, are creating a wrong impression of the council's role.

The council indicated that it met the leadership of the NDC at every instance the party called on it in the run-up to the announcement of the 2020 election results, even in the face of danger and attacks.

It also refuted the assertion that it agreed to organise a meeting between the NDC, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), the international community, and the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to check some of the election results, as Asiedu Nketiah is reported to have said.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the meeting at the office of the former President, H.E. John Mahama, did not conclude with a decision or suggestion for the NPC to organise any meeting between the NDC, NPP, International Delegation, and the Electoral Commission to check the pink sheets as has been purported in the news.

“The Council would therefore like to correct the impression created because of the said publications,” parts of the statement, which was issued on Thursday, May 9, 2024, reads.

The council statement also narrated the attacks its members suffered and the events that led to the shooting at Mahama’s office as follows:

"On the evening of December 8, 2020, the then General Secretary of the NDC, in a press conference, called on the Peace Council to intervene in certain grievances that he had put out in the public domain. In response to that call, the NPC attempted several times to reach the General Secretary for a possible meeting on their grievances. When it was not possible to reach him by phone, the council moved to the NDC head office later in the night for a possible meeting with the leadership of the NDC. However, the NPC was attacked by a mob at the NDC office, and one of the vehicles of the Council was damaged.

"Immediately after the members left the NDC office during the attack, they received a call from one of the leading members of the Party for the members to come to the former president's office the following day at 10 am for the proposed meeting.

"On December 9, 2020, the NPC had a meeting with the NDC at the Office of the Former President, H.E. John Mahama. The meeting was progressing peacefully until about 40 minutes into the meeting, a mob intruded on the meeting to disrupt it. After some intervention by the leadership of the NDC, the mob left the room and continued with gunshots within the compound of the office of H.E. the former President. One of the vehicles conveying members of the NPC was also damaged on leaving the former President's office.

"At the meeting, the NDC expressed some concerns and disagreements that they had with the election results being received at the EC Strong Room. They requested that the NPC should convey their concerns and disagreements to the EC."

What Asiedu Nketiah said:

According to Nketiah, the departure of NDC agents from the Electoral Commission's Strong Room for the collation of the 2020 election presidential election results was not voluntary but under strict instructions, following an agreement with the National Peace Council.

In a video available to GhanaWeb, recorded during a recent meeting with some members of the NDC, Asiedu Nketiah shed light on a meeting proposed by the Peace Council to resolve rising tensions and discrepancies observed during the collation process. The meeting, he said, was scheduled to take place at Movenpick Hotel and was to include all stakeholders, aiming to ensure that the final election results reflected the people's will.

"... So, the Peace Council agreed to organise a meeting between the NDC, NPP, international delegations, and the Electoral Commission. We don't want anything; we just wanted to check the pink sheets. So if we put the pink sheets together and they have won, we will agree.

"We even have the Eastern Region where the results that were collated in Koforidua were different from the results they brought to Accra. So we brought all these things and said that we were not going to wait to go to court. Let the international observers sit around the table, we will sit there, the NPP will sit there, the Peace Council will sit; like we did in 2008 with Afari Gyan, and when we verify the figures, whoever emerges, we will concede," he said.

He noted that the Peace Council agreed to the NDC's demand and left former President Mahama's office with the assurance of making arrangements for the said meeting.

"They thanked us and said they were going to arrange the meeting. So, they went and told the international observers, and they fixed a meeting at Movenpick at 2 pm that all of us would meet there. Then we said okay, that being the case, the Peace Council should go around and talk to everyone. They should even go to the Electoral Commission and tell the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, and then they will talk to our representation in the strong room so that at 2 o'clock we will all stop the collation and then go and sit at Movenpick to continue the collation there.

"So, when the Peace Council informed everybody, they all said that they agreed with the 2 o'clock meeting. That was where our people at the Electoral Commission left the place to come so that we could prepare for the meeting because everybody understands that the collation will be stopped so that we go and continue from wherever we have reached," he said.

He added "Immediately we got this understanding and we were preparing, the NPP met Jean Mensa, and they pressured her to go and do the collation and announce. So our people did not leave there on their own. It was part of an arrangement with the National Peace Council that let us down."

Asiedu Nketiah said that the situation escalated to the extent that gunshots were reported at former President Mahama's office, fuelled by frustration over perceived deception by the Peace Council.

BAI/AE

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