Press Statement from the National Democratic Congress

Building the Peace in order to ensure a peaceful free and fair election We have noted the NPP’s suggestion that we should work together to build the peace and we wish to place on record that those of us in the NDC, are as interested as the NPP in having maintaining a peaceful environment for the people of Ghana to go about their daily business. We are also committed to ensure a peaceful environment in which to conduct our National elections in December. We therefore call on the NPP as the party managing the Government of this country, and the leadership of the institutions of state responsible for maintaining law and order, to execute their official responsibilities and act in such a way, as to create the appropriate conditions for building peace. We of the NDC will also play our part in this process.

In order to help in the process of building the peace, we wish to bring to the attention of our fellow countrymen the fate that has befallen the victims who were most hard hit by the recent violence and destruction at Gushiegu. Last month, in fact as recently as the 28th of August this year, Alhaji Jemoni was by Ghanaian standards a self-sufficient man. He was responsible, hard working, and certainly not lazy. In order to make a living he ran a transport business, he had four transport buses, two cargo trucks and a tractor. He also had a four- wheel drive for his personal use. He was married to three wives and lived in his own compound with three houses together with his wives, children and other members of his family. The members of his household were also hard-working citizens; his wives were traders in foodstuffs. They all worked hard for their living. Alhaji Jemoni also happened to be the NDC Constituency Chairman for the Gushiegu Constituency in the Northern Region.

Alhaji Zabarima was a dealer in scrap metals and was spending time with his friend Alhaji Jemoni at his residence at the time the violence occurred; he was not a native of Gushiegu. Nanga-lana Abukari was an elderly man, a respected Chief within his community and a well regarded Senior Citizen who was peacefully within his home. Ayuba was a young man in his prime an ordinary citizen going about his business and trying to make a life for himself and his family – he was a husband and a father to a teenage daughter, he also just happened to be an NDC activist.

Between the 31st of August and the 2nd of September, the events that took place in the lives of these men and their families changed their fortunes and will be in the memories not only of those close to them, but in the memory of the people of Gushiegu for some time to come. Alhaji Zabarima was murdered in cold blood. He was shot dead and his body doused with petrol and set ablaze. The elderly Nanga-lana Abukari was clubbed to death and his limp body thrown on a pile of corn. Ayuba was also murdered and his body doused with petrol and set ablaze, his motorbike was burnt as well. Three people were murdered in less than 48 hours.

The way in which these crimes are investigated and treated will have a significant impact on our collective ability to build the peace in the Northern Region during this election.

We request that the security forces and the machinery that is responsible for enforcing the rule of law within the Northern Region formally inform the people of Gushiegu in particular, and the people of Ghana as a whole of the steps that they are taking to investigate this matter and prosecute the offenders. We wish to point out that it is by their actions that our national motto of “Freedom and Justice” in a democratic dispensation are given reality and meaning. We have received reports from our members and citizens of Gushiegu to the effect that the persons who were apprehended and supposedly brought to Accra for investigation as to their involvement in these heinous crimes were seen walking freely in the Constituency last week. Further allegations have been made that they are being assisted to leave the country. We trust that the Security Forces will give us an update on the events that have taken place and where they have reached with their investigations, in order that the people of Gushiegu and good people of Ghana are informed of the steps that they are taking to facilitate the building of the peace. We are not raising these issues to stir up passions and emotions. We want Ghanaians to understand that the people who are affected are human beings, and our fellow citizens who have experienced trauma. In our personal lives when we feel hurt and aggrieved how easy, is it to begin to think about forgiveness and moving on? We must realize that in order that the various political parties can work together to build the peace, the victims of these actions must be helped to find closure. We have to help them to overcome their pain and loss. We need to give them the assurance that justice will be done, so that they, their friends and relatives do not feel the need to seek justice on their own terms. We as a nation must ensure that the institutions responsible for maintaining the rule of law will give them justice. Otherwise, where people feel so traumatized and aggrieved how can we begin to make them accept that they have to forgive and forget in order to bring peace? Let us come together first to allow our systems to work for the good of our fellow citizens, so that even though the dead who have been murdered cannot be brought to back to life, those they have left behind will feel that justice will be done, and those responsible will pay the price for their inhuman actions.

We say this bearing in mind that previous incidences of violence resulting in death and destruction from the Northern Region of the Country have remained unresolved. In the circumstances one would be forgiven for thinking that the Security Forces, and the institutions responsible for maintaining law, order and justice have given up trying to get to the bottom of criminal acts that have taken place in the Northern part of the country since the NPP Government took office.

What happened in respect of the Murder of the Yaa Naa and his elders? The matter is still unresolved. What happened to the murderers of Issah Mobila?

Almost four years have gone by and yet until date nobody has been tried for the crime of his murder.

- What will happen to the murderer s of Alhaji Zabarima, Nanga- lana Abukari and Ayuba?

Will they also become footnotes? Will they also become another addition to the cases of unresolved crimes that just happen to have been inflicted on persons who are not known to be sympathetic to the cause of the NPP? If so, how should Ghanaians interpret such events, or how would the Security services and the institutions responsible for the administration of justice want to have their performance assessed?

The first time an incident of this nature occurs it could be considered as happenstance, the second time maybe it could be considered a coincidence (if one wishes to be charitable), but the third time? How do we overcome the suspicion and mistrust that would result from such inaction? We are ready to be part of a process of building the peace to ensure that events of this nature do not happen again, but we are not building peace in Accra to take to Tamale or Gushiegu. We must help the people who live together in those parts of our country to overcome their grief, pain and mistrust so that together we can all build a lasting peace, and bring stability to the Northern Region of this country. We must give real meaning to the concept of the rule of law, and we must live out our national motto of ensuring that there is freedom and justice for all Ghanaians everywhere.

We wish to place on record that we do not have any doubt in the abilities and professionalism of our Security forces. We know of their stellar performance in various peacekeeping missions in the different trouble spots all over the world as UN peacekeepers. We are only saying that we expect them to ensure the same level of professionalism and performance here in Ghana, and to have this assurance we need to see results.

Then we can collectively take comfort in the fact that they will help us to remain a stable nation. The political parties are at the moment competing amongst each other for the mandate of the people of Ghana to run the affairs of this nation. The Security Services, the Electoral Commission and all Ghanaians must do what is required to make sure the process goes smoothly. However, there is a greater responsibility at this time on the State institutions that are required to act as umpires in the process to guarantee our safety and security. In the mean time let us remember that Alhaji Jemoni, an elderly man who is someone’s father, husband, relative and a citizen of Ghana from one day to the next, together with his wives and children have become destitute. Alhaji Zabarima is dead, Nanga-lana Abukari is dead and Ayuba is dead. Let us do all that is necessary to ensure that justice is not only done, but is manifestly seen to be done. We call on our brothers and sisters in the NPP to do all that they can to ensure that the Government machinery that their party controls does everything in its power to bring the perpetrators of these dastardly acts to account for their actions. We ask our President to task the responsible authorities to make sure the villains are apprehended promptly and tried in accordance with the criminal justice system, and the laws of our land. We believe that these actions if undertaken with speed and transparency they will significantly contribute to the process of building the peace. We will play our part in this process, and we ask that together - let us create the opportunity for all Ghanaians, to live in a country that gives meaning to the inscription on its coat of arms.

Let us ensure “Freedom and Justice” for all, and then there will be peace.

Hanna S. Tetteh Director of Communications National Democratic Congress