The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated categorically that it is not training any militia to disrupt the 2020 general election, thereby accusing former President John Dramani Mahama of peddling falsehood.
The former president who is the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the 2020 presidential election, whilst addressing executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Accra last week, accused the ruling NPP of training its members in combat techniques to foment trouble in 2020.
Large Scale Violence
He said that he was hoping that the violence that occurred during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on January 31 would not be repeated on a large scale in 2020.
“We remember what happened in Ayawaso West Wuogon. I pray that, God forbid, nothing like that ever happens again. But you know the issue of vigilantes, especially when one party is training vigilantes,” he said, adding “I remember at the time of Ayawaso West Wuogon, there was a letter that came out asking party executives to bring able-bodied people to be trained as security.”
Asutuare Training
The former president said specifically that “since then, we have evidence that those people have been to Asutuare and trained in batches over and over again in all kinds of combat techniques and other things,” adding “it is a worry that the Ayawaso West Wuogon incident will be repeated on a larger scale than it did.”
“This was only a by-election but the way things are going and from what we are hearing, it is possible that some sinister force is preparing to wreak violence during the [general] elections and this is something that we must look at,” he said.
Mahama Retaliation
Mr. Mahama did not also end there as he appeared to threaten to retaliate over what he said was the closure of pro-NDC radio stations including Radio Gold and Radio XYZ who have been cited by the National Communications Authority (NCA) for operating without licence.
He told the GJA executives that “there has occurred under this government a situation where the law is deliberately used to shut down dissenting stations and it is unfortunate. If you look at the pattern of the stations that have been closed, using the law, they are all pro-NDC stations and I think it is a bad precedent. I pray it doesn’t happen in future when the shoe is reversed and some other government comes and shuts down stations that are pro-opposition.”
Electronic Tribunal
He added “the law is just being used because the stations have appealed to the Electronic Tribunal but somehow they have managed to get the judge to resign and government has refused to appoint a new judge to adjudicate the case deliberately just so they could keep the stations closed and it is totally unacceptable.”
Mr. Mahama then cautioned the NCA to be minded by the emerging new media and its impact on their work, saying “I want to caution the NCA that, the way they are going and the way technology is going, a time will come when you don’t need the NCA because you don’t need a frequency and they are going to force stations to bypass the NCA.”
NPP Rebuttal
The NPP has not taken kindly to Mr. Mahama’s comments and has come out forcefully, accusing him of peddling falsehood.
A statement by the NPP’s Director of Communications, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, said yesterday that “it should not surprise anyone that candidate John Mahama is throwing verbal flames at election issues again in his recent meeting with the leadership of the GJA.”
“Most of his effusions to the GJA leadership undermine the law of the land. Instead of advising the radio stations he claims to be that of his party to seek redress in the higher courts, he rather threatens to retaliate with closures of other stations,” the statement said.
Boot for Boot
“After gleefully declaring his higher credentials in delivering election violence and threatening to match the NPP ‘boot for boot’, candidate Mahama went to sleep with a false presentation to the diplomatic community about the noble country he seeks to lead.
“He (Mahama) made absolutely no input into the public, executive, legislative and political leadership processes that led to the establishment of the Short Commission, the National Peace Council moderated bi-party dialogue and the passage of an Act of Parliament against politically related violence,” it noted.
Scare Tactics
It also said “for the attention of candidate Mahama, the nation has moved beyond scare tactics about election violence. If he has any substance, he should resort to the rule of law and use the institutions available. We also admonish Mahama and his followers not to resort to cooking up and spreading false materials on social media as they have done in recent times in their attempt to mislead the people of Ghana. As has been proven, that will soon be found out as false.”
“If it is just qualms he has about losing the impending election, then he best keeps them to himself so the nation can get on with the serious business of defeating poverty,” it said, adding “but then, former President Mahama has never respected the law, though he is a beneficiary of the law, which installed him as a midstream president. He disrespected the Supreme Court by never showing up at the Election Petition Hearing.”
