Justin Frimpong Koduah
The ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP has defended the comments made by the newly appointed Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong saying the NPP will never hand over power to the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC.
According to the NPP in a statement issued and signed by the General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, the comments made by Bryan Acheampong, we’re in response to the NDC’s perpetual flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, who had on many occasions described the 2024 general elections as one of “do or die” for the NDC.
The response from the ruling NPP follows the attacks from the NDC calling on the Ghana Police Service to cause the arrest of Bryan Acheampong and prosecute him over the comments he made when addressing party members after a Health Walk held at Mpreaso -Kwahu in the Eastern Region last Saturday.
The NPP said they considered the NDC’s attack on Bryan Acheampong as not only unwarranted but also attention-seeking, and ill attempt to emotionally blackmail Ghanaians to court their support.
According to the NPP, they find the NDC’s statement not only ill-found hypocritical, illogical, and baseless, but also one that lacks contextual substance for the consumption of the discerning Ghanaians who are not oblivious to the modus operandi of the main opposition party in deliberately putting diabolic and mischievous slant to the otherwise innocuous comments of the Member of Parliament in furtherance of their selfish political interest.
“From the foregoing, if anybody has to be arrested by the Police for treasonable comments, then certainly it is John Dramani Mahama for his continuous “Do or die for the NDC ” about the 2024 general elections, and Asiedu Nketiah for his brazen proclamation that members of the NDC are willing to sacrifice their lives to win the 2024 elections” the party stated in the statement.
“It is, in fact, a no secret that the NDC has always resorted to violence and intimidation against their opponents during the conduct of general elections, and this was summed up by their 2024 presumptive presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama”.
“Since the NDC pretends not to appreciate and logically decode Bryan’s message, we would once again educate them, just as we have done on many occasions. Mr. Mahama once said, “NDC has revolutionary root, and that when it comes to unleashing violence, nobody can beat us [NDC] in unleashing violence”.
“Other leading members of the NDC, including Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the national chairman of the Party, have made similar threatening and malicious comments. Indeed, following his election as National Chairman, Asiedu Nketiah stated in his victory speech that, the NDC would fight the 2024 general elections to win a second independence for Ghana, and that, they are prepared to sacrifice everything including their lives for an NDC victory”.
“It was in response to this myriad of reckless and treasonable comments from the NDC that Hon. Bryan Acheampong encouraged supporters of the NPP, who may feel intimidated by the many threats coming from the NDC, that, under no circumstance should they feel intimidated because the NPP has men of courage who can rise to the defense of our democracy and the 1992 Constitution of the Republic as enshrined in Article 3 of the Constitution”.
The NPP further added that “Mr. Bryan, thereupon, proceeded to give NPP supporters a firm assurance that the Party [NPP] will not lose the 2024 general elections and hand power to the NDC but will do everything to retain power. Considering the steps being taken by the Akufo-Addo-led government to tackle Ghana’s socioeconomic challenges, which have begun bearing positive dividends, and also by the conduct of the NPP since the advent of the Fourth Republic, Bryan Acheampong’s comments can only be interpreted to mean that the NPP, just as it has done in the past, is determined to do everything legally possible to win the 2024 general elections. The NPP’s track record of winning elections through free, fair, and transparent means is not in doubt at all”.
The statement said “It is thus nerve-wracking to see the very persons who have over time made the worst of unguarded statements and acted in a manner that has the potential to subvert the nation’s democratic order and plunge the country into chaos and instability, to turn around and cry foul of a statement that seeks to energize the base of the NPP, give assurance of hope to party faithful and the Ghanaian citizenry. Ghanaians are fully awoken to such gimmicks by the NDC”.
“We wish to conclude by once again assuring the good people of this great nation that the NPP remains a peace-loving party and would not do anything to jeopardize the peace and security of the state”.
“We hold the enviable title as the bastion of democracy in Ghana and on the African continent, and this, we intend to guard jealously. The 2024 general elections shall be free, fair, and the most transparent elections in the Fourth Republic, and by the grace of God, the NPP would emerge victors to continue our transformation agenda”, the statement underscored.
BY Daniel Bampoe