The Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has taken a swipe at the Council of State and the National Peace Council.
According to him, the two bodies are operating dormant institutions.
“The Council of State, you have been established as the institution responsible for advising the President of the Republic of Ghana, please stand up and discharge your responsibilities. The nation is in crisis and we are going into a crucial election so justify the reason why you were put in place because you were not put there to bootlick the President, but to advise him because we know there will be a time we will have a President who is recalcitrant who will not listen to the masses,” he said in Tamale.
According to him, the National Peace Council has not acted their name and appealed to them to wake up from their ‘slumber’.
“The National Peace Council your message is simple, act according to your name. We didn’t establish a Peace Council to appeal to the emotions of people who have been wronged and oppressed to guarantee the peace of the oppressor but rather established you to speak the truth. Tell whoever is not conducting himself well to create problems for this nation to be careful so if you are interested in peace and you want to act according to your name please be proactive. When you see the early warning signs don’t wait for anybody to wake you up from your slumber, speak out, and be counted by prosperity,” he said.
He appealed to Chiefs to stay neutral in order to protect the democracy of the country.
“ The Chiefs of this country, we did not separate your institution from partisan politics for no reason, we know why we did that, and from our past history if you allow politicians to meddle in our traditional councils we will end up destroying the institution so please you have a role beyond appealing to us for peace, stand firm and neutral in this contest so that if there is a problem and you invite us to solve it we will trust you and come before you and listen to your advice. So please if you meddle in politics then there will be a time politicians will also meddle in chieftaincy and we don’t want that and that is why we framed the constitution to prevent chiefs from engaging in partisan politics.”
BY Eric Kombat, Tamale