The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo- Markin says actions taken by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since it assumed the reins of power are all geared towards what he described as ‘carving them into ‘self-Preservation’.
Afenyo -Markin who made this known when he addressed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) sympathizers at the Party’s headquarters yesterday in Accra ahead of the anticipated demonstration on May 5 said such actions cannot crash the NPP spirit.
He described the move to suspend the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkunoo in furtherance of President Mahama’s agenda to subsequently as not only targeted at only the office of the Chief Justice but also former appointees of the NPP government.
“They can never use this to cow us into self-preservation, to crush the NPP spirit. They now want to control our courts. So what are we seeing?
They attempt to sack the Chief Justice. I, on behalf of the Minority Caucus, hereby say that what we are witnessing today under John Mahama-led government is a systematic and calculated assault on the independence of the judiciary”.
“An institution that we all know is the last line of defense for the rule of law, the protection of rights, and the survival of our democratic republic. Today, what we see is intimidation, political interference, and open targeting of judges who are perceived as inconvenient and non-compliant,” he said.
That he added were not ‘only unacceptable but ‘repugnant to good conscience’ and should be resisted by all Ghanaians to help protect the institutional integrity of the country.
Mass Dismissal
The Minority leader also chronicled some events that have occurred under the administration of the NDC since assumption of office especially the dismissal of public servants, including teachers and nurses contrary to its promise of creating jobs for the youth.
He noted that people who were employed for over 7 years contrary to the NDC’s own directive were suddenly sacked they replaced some institutional heads with their party faithfuls as part of their resetting agenda.
Goldbod
Touching on illegal mining, Afenyo-Markin stated that the NDC used the illegal mining popularly called ‘Galamsey’ as a campaign tool against the NPP while in opposition but have failed to address the menace to the extent of institutionalizing a Goldbod that it claimed will buy equipment for small scale miners.
‘Today what do we see, according to organised labour, this is not from NPP, and the galamsey situation has worsened. What is the essence of the Goldbod? You and I know that their intent is not to support any small scale miner. Their intent is to support ‘galamsey’. That’s exactly what they are doing and they are monopolizing the purchase of gold to rent it,” he noted
Military
He also bemoaned the state at which the NDC government has also politicized the Ghana Armed Forces into a partisan Institution which has not been recorded in the history of the country since the era of both President John A. Kufuor and Nana Akufo-Addo.
According to him, the Military has always been kept out of politics and allowed military generals to serve until they retired especially senior officers but some have today been completely wiped out due to politics.
‘’Those heads in our military, the generals, were allowed to stay in office when NPP assumed office. Some served for over a year, until they retired, but what are we seeing today? There’s a complete wipe-out at the highest level of the military. They first decided to clear those senior officers, the generals’’.
Taxes
The Minority leader further mentioned that actions by the NDC revealed its hypocrisy given the promises it made to Ghanaians to reduce taxes and yet has even increased utility tariffs and some taxes in the mining sector though the country is plagued with power outages.
The Minority Leader also highlighted the criticism made against the NPP by the NDC for the nominations of two additional judges who were supposed to be approved at the plenary to the supreme court bench and yet have also nominated seven more to the Supreme court.
“This government must tread with the greatest caution, always keeping tomorrow in mind when taking decisions today because these decisions may shape future governments. What has changed? We leave it to the good conscience of the NDC government themselves. But I want to tell them that we will not relent. We, in Parliament, will hold their feet to the fire and fight for the ordinary Ghanaian,” he stated.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah