The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rubbished the statement issued by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) reacting to the comments by Agriculture Minister, Bryan Acheampong.
According to the NPP, the NDC statement was not only ill-founded, hypocritical, illogical, and baseless, but also one that lacks contextual substance for the consumption of the discerning Ghanaians.
The NPP pointed out that Ghanaians are not “oblivious to the modus operandi of the main opposition party in deliberately putting diabolic and mischievous slant to otherwise innocuous comments of the Member of Parliament in furtherance of their selfish political interest.”
This comes after the General Secretary of the NDC Fifi Kwetey said that the comment by Bryan Acheampong was treasonable.
Bryan Acheampong had assured members of the NPP that the economy would bounce back.
He said the government was working to secure a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Hopefully, he said, by June this year the deal will be closed, a situation that will lead to the resurgence of the economy.
Speaking to members of the NPP in Mpraeso after a health walk on Saturday, April 8, the Abetifi MP said “NDC party will collapse. If the NDC dares to use threats, violence and foolishness in the 2024 election we will let them know we have the men. We will show them that we have the men. We have the men.
“It will never happen that we the NPP will stand on a platform to hand over power to the NDC. It will never happen! We will make sure NPP remains in government at all cost”.
The former Minister of State in Charge of National Security added “Now with the way things are changing the economy will bounce back again, I am telling you that we are going to come around that curve and we are going to win the 2024 elections hands down.”
But a statement issued by Fifi Kwetey responding to him said “The NDC condemns this utterly reckless and treasonable comment in no uncertain terms. We note that Bryan Acheampong is the latest of high-ranking officials of the NPP to make such brazen statement that reveals the party’s deep-seated determination to subvert Ghana’s democratic order.
“At an NPP delegates conference in Kumasi in 2021, President Akufo-Addo expressed his determination to “hand over to an NPP Government in 2025″. This eerily reminds everyone of the Nana Addo led desperate attempts to steal the 2008 elections in the strongroom of the Electoral lectoral Commission and other attempts by his desperate party to put dead bodies in water bodies in the Volta region all with a view to subverting the will of the people in that critical election.”
Reacting to the NDC statement, the NPP General Secretary Justin Kodau Frimpong said “The NPP finds the NDC’s statement not only ill-founded, 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 an otherwise innocuous comments of the Member of Parliament in furtherance of their selfish political interest.
“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. For the avoidance of doubt, Hon Bryan Acheampong, was responding 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. 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. He has stated emphatically that: ‘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 was in response to this myriad of reckless and treasonable comments from the NDC that Hon. Bryan Acheampong gave encouragement to 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.
“Hon. 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 tackling 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 comment 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.
“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 faithfuls and the Ghanaian citizenry. Ghanaians are fully awoken to such gimmicks by the NDC.
The NPP considers the NDC’s attack on Bryan Acheampong not only unwarranted but also attention-seeking with an ill attempt to emotionally blackmail Ghanaians to court their support.
“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 ” in reference to the 2024 general elections, and Asidedu Nketiah for his brazen proclamation that members of the NDC are willing to sacrifice their lives to win the 2024 elections.
“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.”
By Vincent Kubi