Former President John Dramani Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama has given tacit support for Koku Anyidoho’s comment that they (NDC) are going to stage a coup d’état to remove democratically elected President Akufo-Addo from office.
He took to social media platform – Facebook – yesterday to indict President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for sitting unconcerned while the police harass opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters who gathered in front of the Police Headquarters in Accra on Tuesday to show solidarity with Koku Anyidoho, the party’s deputy general secretary, who is in the cooler for his treasonable comment.
“As a party that prides itself in the non-criminalization of speech, with a self-acclaimed human rights activist as President, the arrest of K. Anyidoho with armed men in the middle of a press event, is obviously disproportionate,” Mr. Mahama fired President Akufo-Addo in a sarcastic manner, adding, “Moreso, the high-handed police response to innocent citizens waiting at the CID HQ is condemnable.”
The ex-president, who failed to secure a second term in office on December 7, 2016, also supported yesterday’s demonstration which Koku Anyidoho said was going to be used to set the tone to topple President Akufo-Addo.
Support
Former President Mahama posted, “I join in declaring #GhanaFirst as my compatriots and other democratic forces converge to demonstrate their opposition to the Ghana/US military agreement.”
His former vice, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, also attended the demonstration together with almost every NDC guru in Accra.
Although the demonstration was said to have been organized by a group calling itself Ghana First Patriotic Front and the All Progressive Forces, the caliber of people in attendance showed clearly that it was an NDC agenda, using the Joint Military Cooperation Agreement as a cover-up.
Double Standards
Mr Mahama appears to have been caught in a classic case of double standards in his criticism of President Akufo-Addo over the alleged treatment of the NDC supporters by the police.
When the case involving Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, happened in 2012 and he was charged with treason – a case which was eventually thrown out by an Accra high court – Mr. Mahama, then vice president, had urged the security agencies to deal ruthlessly with the MP.
Even when former President J.A. Kufuor counseled the government to tread cautiously with the MP’s case by not using ‘sledge hammer to kill a fly,’ then Mr Mahama responded that the NDC government “will even use a bulldozer to kill the ant whose intention is to foment trouble.”
He said on April 23, 2012 at an NDC Tertiary Education Institutions Network programme in the Ashanti Region, “The MP’s comment should not be taken lightly. The whole nation must rise up and say what he said was absolutely unacceptable. It is the silence of those who should speak for the truth that makes evil triumph.”
In another instance, when he was president and the police brutalized members of the ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVC)’ who were pushing for the compilation of new voters’ register, Mr. Mahama was silent.
Civilian Coup d’état
In what looked like a show of bravado, Koku Anyidoho, Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, on Monday declared on radio that he was leading a movement to overthrow President Akufo-Addo’s government and even went to the extent of saying that the ‘uprising’ would commence on Wednesday.
He was subsequently arrested and detained for the treasonable comment.
Koku Anyidoho declared on Happy FM, “Somebody should tell Nana Addo (President Akufo-Addo) that history has a very interesting way of repeating itself. On the 13th of January, 1972, a certain Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led an insurrection that removed the Progress Party from power. Busia was the Prime Minister and Akufo-Addo’s father was the ceremonial President.
“There will be a civilian coup d’état. There will be a social revolution. We are starting it on Wednesday. The movement is starting on Wednesday. Nana Addo will have sleepless nights. He will suffer diarrhea. He said he wanted to be president, but we will make sure he will be fed up on the seat.”
By William Yaw Owusu