Portuphy is the 'Godfather' of lawlessness - Obiri Boahen

Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen has taken a swipe at the National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Portuphy for blaming President Akufo-Addo for the lawlessness, armed robberies and killings of some security officers in the country.

The National Chairman of the NDC at a press conference in Accra Thursday said “goons” and “squads” from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) are behind the recent killings of some policemen in line of duty.

He said, Armed robbers and armed gangs are now operating with impunity and killing our policemen in broad day light without any form of fear and nor trepidation. For the first time in the 4th Republican dispensation, a political party in the shape of the NPP has incorporated militancy and violent extremism into its way of operations."

“To give meaning to militancy and violence, a group of brigands and outright criminals have been assembled and given such blood clotting names as Invincible Forces, Delta Forces, Kandaha Boys, Volta Crocodiles and also given official covering from the seat of government to perpetuate their illegal existence, " Mr Portuphy said.

He added, “These criminal gangs have been allowed to wage a psychological war on the security apparatus by attacking and openly killing policemen in uniform."

“Very credible intelligence information reaching us [NDC] has it that a lot of the armed robbery and killing of hard working police officers is being done by some elements belonging to the aforementioned militant goons, squads associated with the NPP,” he said.

But responding to the allegations, lawyer Obiri Boahen said he [Portuphy] does not have the moral right to speak on issues bothering lawlessness and impunity in the country.

According to him, Portuphy is the godfather of lawlessness who sponsored goons of the NDC to perpetrate unlawful acts especially during the Talensi by-election.

He said, arms and ammunition were found in the car booth of Portuphy and he is accusing the president of sponsoring lawlessness, he quizzed.

He further used unprintable words on the former National Coordinator of NADMO for trivializing issues bothering on national security and the safety of service men.

He said, we should not politicize killing of policemen. We should rather focus on discussing on how we can resource or retool, the police service so they can combat crime instead of having people politicize the issue.

He questioned why the NDC failed to talk about the alleged V8 handed over to the EC boss by former President John Dramani Mahama.

‘’When we were going to Talensi for the by-election, Portuphy loaded his car booth with guns and ammunition. However, the police failed to query him, they did not allow him to sign for the guns or hand over them to the police. Yet today, he [Portuphy] is talking about lawlessness and indiscipline. Kofi Portuphy, is talking about lawlessness; he does not have the moral right to do so,’’ he said.