General Secretary of NDC, Asiedu Nketia
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said it has seen a letter written by government officials asking the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to submit names of some members of the governing party’s vigilante groups to be recruited into the National Security for the 2020 election, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the main opposition party, has said.
According to him, this action smacks of insincerity on the part of the president, following his calls for the disbandment of all vigilante groups in the country.
Mr Nketia called on Mr Akufo-Addo to be genuine with his call for the disbandment of vigilante groups associated with the various political parties in Ghana.
“We have seen a letter written by government officials calling on the NPP to submit names of some members of their vigilante groups to be recruited into the National Security for elections 2020. This is shocking to us, as we are all finding ways of ending vigilantism in the country,” Mr Nketia told Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don) on the Ghana Yensom show on Accra100.5FM Thursday March 7.
He added: “We in the NDC want government officials to be part of the meeting between our party and the NPP because the party is different from government so that we can question the officials who wrote this letter. Also we want the National Peace Council to be involved.
“I don’t know why the president does not want to involve officials from the Peace Council. If he is genuine with his call, then he should give way for others to partake in the exercise.”
Mr Akufo-Addo has said he will spare no effort in ridding the nation of “offensive” election-related violence since Ghanaians do not deserve to be toyed with in such reckless manner.
The president made this known during the delivery of his speech at the 62nd Independence Anniversary parade held in Tamale in the Northern Region on Wednesday, 6 March 2019.
Nana Akufo-Addo said: “Success must be counted by how many young people go to school and get skills and jobs and not by how many young people can be massed up to disrupt elections or how many broken bones we can count.
“The people of Ghana do not deserve to be toyed with in such a reckless manner”, the president said.
According to him, “The very concept of political violence is offensive and shames us all who are in politics”, adding: “That is why I’ve determined that hopefully the impending dialogue between the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, who, between them, regularly take up more than 95 per cent of the votes in elections; who have provided all the seven governments of the 4th Republic; and who are the only two parties currently represented in parliament, should succeed.
“I will spare no effort including the initiation of the relevant legislation to ensure that we rid our nation of politically-related violence.”
