, GENOCIDAL COMMENTS
Peace-
loving Ghanaians across the length and breadth of the country will march
tomorrow to register their protest against the reckless, irresponsible,
explosive and backward statement made by Kennedy Agyapong inciting Ashantis to
slaughter Ewes and Gas.
The march will also offer Ghanaians the
opportunity to appreciate the dangers and devastating effects of violence, war
and ethnic cleansing.
These
unfortunate phenomena of warmongering and tribal incitement have gained momentum
in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because no mean a person than Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer, declared this year’s elections as All Die Be Die and
urged innocent supporters to fight and die for him to become president because
it is his birthright .
The
NPP leadership, instead of condemning the shameful behaviour of the
flagbberarer, made frantic efforts to rationalize the All Die Be Die mantra by using
it as a slogan to deceive supporters to arm themselves and attack those
perceived to be a threat in the attempt to capture power.
The
NPP’s desperation for power is pushing the country along the path of war because
the party is determined to win the election by foul and fair means in order to
offer them opportunity to amass wealth and mismanage the oil revenue.
Nana
Akufo-Addo has, on countless times, poured out his desperation for the
presidency claiming that the stakes are high for the 2012 elections because of
the oil find and not the wellbeing of the ordinary Ghanaian.
It
is therefore not surprising that the NPP is obsessed with violence, their
political tradition. The UP (P) has records of violence against political
opponents before and after the country’s attainment of independence
The
march will tell successive generations that the nation was built on peace and
unity and sound a warning to the cowards who are shouting for war through their
radio stations.
As Kennedy Agyapong
incites Ashantis to kill Ewes and Gas, Nana Akuffo Addo’s infamous “yen Akanfuo
die” statement, sought to brand the NPP as an Akan party, the Minority Leader
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s statement that there are no high profile Gas and
Northerners in the NPP who qualify to be flagbearer buttress the Akan perception
and NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey’s strange statement that, just as Akans
in Ivory Coast rose up and fought for their birthright so will Akans in Ghana
be forced to rise up and fight for their birthright, which is the leadership of
this country.
While the NPP
flagbearer is calling for death, Sammy Awuku, Deputy Communications director of
the party, called on supporters to acquire pestles because these do not require
licences and use them against opponents.
And Anthony Karbo, on
the other hand, urged NPP followers to adopt Boko Haram style and be militants
to ensure the party wins power come December.
The Forum
for Governance and Justice (FGJ) is the organizer of the peace march to condemn
those inciting one ethnic group against another.
FGJ last
Tuesday, 17th April, 2012, added its voice to that of peace-loving
individuals and groups in condemning the genocidal and ethnically explosive
statements made by Kennedy Adjepong in which he called on Ashantis and Akans in
general to attack Gas and Voltarians in the Ashanti Region.
The group
repudiated in the strongest possible terms, his declaration of war on his Radio
Station, Oman FM.
Given the
gravity of the statements made by Kennedy Adjepong and the potential it holds
for the commission of serious crimes against humanity such as genocide, ethnic
cleansing and civil strife, the FGJ argued that condemnation alone would not be
enough to drum home the need to eschew such conduct.
As part of contribution towards mobilising Ghanaians to reject
hate-speech and incitement to violence, the FGJ held a public forum yesterday
where speakers appealed to Ghanaians to eschew violence and leave in peace and
harmony because Ghana is the only country they have.
Youth
groups, religious bodies, workers groups, Civil Society Organizations and all
Ghanaians determined to keep the country peaceful will tomorrow join the
demonstration to send a clear signal to those hankering after war, genocide and
civil strife that they will not be allowed to get away with such diabolical
schemes.
