Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has taken a swipe at President Nana Akufo-Addo for condemning the Greater Accra youth wing of NDC captured in viral videos wielding machetes around the office of the party’s flagbearer, conducting a cleanup exercise.
According to him, the condemnation from President Nana Akufo-Addo, is ironic considering the fact that he (Akufo-Addo) superintended over a gruesome crime at the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, as well as the deaths of eight NDC supporters during the 2020 general elections.
In a separate statement, the NDC youth wing in the Greater Accra Region, has “respectfully” inquired from President Akufo-Addo whether he was “expecting us to use a bread knife from Mrs Akufo-Addo’s kitchen for the clean-up exercise”.
The NDC exercise was in response to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) group, Fixing the Country Movement, which had planned to picket at the former President’s Cantonments office on Thursday, November 23, 2023.
The group led by Ernest Owusu-Bempah, Deputy Director of Communications for the ruling NPP, said they wanted to draw the attention of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate Mr Mahama’s alleged involvement in the Airbus Scandal.
Mr Mahama, had added that President Akufo-Addo did not show sympathy for the families of the 8 people who lost their lives during the mayhem, an act he alleged was sponsored by the state.
“This is a bit rich, coming from the president who superintended the mayhem at Ayawaso West Wuogon and has not had a word of sympathy for the families of our 8 compatriots who died from state-sponsored violence in 2020,” Mr Mahama posted on his X page on November 28, 2023.
President Akufo-Addo had strongly condemned the actions of the Greater Accra youth wing of the opposition party, captured in viral videos wielding machetes around Mr Mahama’s office.
He expressed his dissatisfaction with the behaviour of the NDC supporters when addressing the Victory Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Adentan Fafraha, in Accra.
The address was during the valedictory church service for the outgoing Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt. Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante.
He reiterated that such actions will not be tolerated before, during or after the December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
“It is my honest hope that the machetes and weapons brandished last week at the residence of the NDC’s presidential candidate, the former president John Mahama are not signs of things to come in the run-up of the 2024 elections elections
“If it is, I can assure them that they will find no success with them. I want to state for the record that under my watch, no person or group of persons no matter their political colouration will destabilise our country nor destroy the peace that all of us are enjoying. It will not happen,” he stated.
But a statement signed by Amorse Amos Blessing, Regional Youth Organiser, asked “if that was the case, what stopped him from sending any of his wandering elephant-size presidential staffers to make them available to us?”
It was a clapback to the President’s remarks: “It is my honest hope that the machetes and weapons brandished last week at the residence of the NDC’s presidential candidate, the former President John Mahama, are not signs of things to come in the run-up to the 2024 elections elections”.
The president then warned: “If it is, I can assure them that they will find no success with them”.
“I want to state for the record that under my watch, no person or group of persons no matter their political colouration, will destabilise our country nor destroy the peace that all of us are enjoying”, he noted, stressing: “It will not happen”.
However, the NDC says: “If there was, and still is, any Ghanaian who poses a threat to our democracy ahead of the 2024 election, it is President Akufo-Addo himself”.
They said under President Akufo-Addo, eight Ghanaians were killed by “state-sponsored brigands” who are “gleefully walking the streets” because they are part of the “militants” the president said were on the NPP’s side when his party was in opposition.
They added that the president’s “belligerent posturing emboldened thugs to attack ASP Nanka Bruce at the Jubilee House without a word from him”.
The NDC youth are of the view that the president has demonstrated, through his actions, that he is “enmeshed in hooliganism” himself.
They warned: “This time round, nobody would fold his arms and call on civil and moral society to condemn President Akufo-Addo and his trigger-happy thugs when they strike, kill and maim NDC members. In the 2024 elections, if the NPP comes with peace, we shall embrace them with peace. However, if they come the other way round, we will meet them squarely”.
The Fixing the Country Movement has since suspended its scheduled demonstration and picketing at the Cantonments office of Former President Mahama blaming it on some “perceived security considerations” by the National Security, a statement signed by its Convener Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah said.
Some political watchers had predicted the Cantonments office of former President Mahama would have been plunged into chaos and turned into a battlefield for youth activists of the ruling NPP and their NDC.
