Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has vehemently denied that it was behind the alleged audio recording in which chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo was heard plotting assassinations, kidnappings and other forms of violence.
After the about two-hour explosive audio recording surfaced on Tuesday, the NDC Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, claimed the recording in question had been ‘doctored’ and said the NPP was behind the secret recording.
He alleged that the NPP government bugged the offices of the NDC in order to spy on the opposition.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a rebuttal, told journalists at a press briefing yesterday in Accra that the government had nothing to do with the recording.
He said the Government of Ghana, as a matter of policy and practice, does not bug the offices or homes of political parties and their leadership.
“It’s not the policy or practice of the government to illegally interfere with the privacy or communication of persons or organizations; to do so will be an infringement on the constitutional provisions of privacy.”
“The government therefore finds it distasteful that the said party chooses to bring the name of the state into disrepute in its attempt to respond to queries about the validity and origins of the said conspiratorial conversation.”
Unpatriotic
He pointed out that the practice of accusing the state and seeking to portray to the global community of democratic watchers that the state is involved in some illegality is unpatriotic and has the potential to undermine the growing respect that Ghana has for its resilient democracy and respect for rule of law.
“Whilst the Akufo-Addo administration cannot speak for past administrations, including the immediate past NDC administration, this administration does not and has not bugged offices of political parties, its key actors, individuals or organizations for that matter.”
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah stressed that “it is our understanding that the police investigation will also determine whether or not indeed the leaders of the said party are in a conspiracy to commit acts to cause insecurity within the Ghanaian jurisdiction.”
Call for support
He called on Ghanaians “to support this investigation to be preferably done with the support of the necessary international acoustic analysts to determine the validity, identities and the level of seriousness to be attached to the alleged conspiracy.”
The Minister specified that “matters of security are key to the cohesion and stability of the state and therefore must be handled with the highest level of seriousness at all times and government urges the security agencies to do so in this incident as well.”
“Government takes very seriously any attempt to attack constitutional and legal entities like the Electoral Commission and the National Peace Council or any other conspiracy to deploy violence and panic through kidnappings and mob attacks using vigilante groups, or in general, any enterprise to create insecurity within the Ghanaian jurisdiction.”
He declared “the capacity and determination of the state to maintain peace and security and protect Ghana’s enviable image remains unchanged. And the Akufo-Addo administration will not renege on its responsibility in this field.”
He added that “the government urges all stakeholders of our democracy to seriously take a dim view of acts that have the potential to undermine the nation’s democracy.”
By Melvin Tarlue