Violence Is In The Genes Of The NPP

Report of acts of thuggery being perpetuated by NPP supporters against NDC supporters in the aftermath of the latter's victories at the polls really confirms Kofi Wayo's constant remark that some Africans are savages.

Just about a month ago, the people of the United States of America held their Presidential election and in spite of the acrimonous nature of the campaign, not a single blood was shed. Yet, reports of assault and stabbing of NDC supporters is being reported all over in Ghana after our elections simply because those who think it's their divine right to rule were rejected at the polls by the good people of Ghana.

We at the 'Daily Post' are not surprise at the refusal of the NPP to accept defeat because history has taught us that rejecting results of polls they have lost is their stock-in-trade.

Since 1951, the ‘ma te me hu’ party has never accepted defeat at the polls because they think it is their divine right to rule. The only polls, as far as they are concerned, which is free, fair and credible is the one they win.

In his boot, “DARK DAYS IN GHANA” PP52-56, which he wrote while in exile, President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah described members of the opposition which are represented by the NPP today, after he beat them in the 8th February 1951 polls as politicians with a “…long record of go-slow policies, of subversive activity…” who, unable to gain victory at the polls “resorted to assassination plots in order to impose themselves on the people of Ghana, and to avenge their political defeat”

Again, Nkrumah said of them; “Disgruntled at the success of the party (CPP) in the general elections, and disappointed at not receiving positions in the new government, they proceeded to try to cause confusion and disenchantment among the people…”

This attitude of the Busia-Danquahist is what the NPP is displaying today. Obviously, a tiger cannot change its spots! Or to put it better, a crab does not give birth to a bird. In fact, it would have been the 8th wonder of the World if the NPP had accepted in good faith their defeat in the just ended elections. However, it simply is not in their nature to accept defeat and no one needs a soothsayer to predict, before the December 7 polls, that if defeated, they would reject the results. It is for this reason that Dr. Kwame Nkruamh said “…the defeatist attitude of these people explains why they never managed to lead a genuine and popular liberation movement”

Anyone who understands how the ‘ma te me hu’ party behaves saw as a farce the so-called Peace declaration organized by the National Peace Council(NPC) in Kumasi before the elections and sponsored by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. Akufo-Addo was making a declaration he was not going to abide by if he loses the election.

In the run-up to the 1992 Presidential elections, Prof. Adu Boahene, flag-bearer of the NPP, without any prompting from anybody took a full page advert in the 'Daily Graphic and “Pledge to the chiefs and people of Ghana, to the Ghana Armed Forces, the Police, Prisons, Customs and Excise…to the international Community…that once the Presidential elections in the 3rd November 1992 is adjudge to be fair by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)…I will cooperate fully with whoever is declared winner by the INEC.”

However, come his defeat in the elections and Adu Boahene, thanks to the ‘ma te me hu’ blood that flow in his veins, refused to accept defeat. He went back on his pledge.

In a statement issued in Accra on November 19, 1992 headed “WHY I WILL CONCEDE DEFEAT”, Prof. Adu Boahene gave a litany of excuses why he will not concede defeat. Is it any wonder that Akufo-Addo, who hails from the same party, too is doing same after his declaration at the Kumasi Peace forum?

Now, the acts such as assault, bomb-throwing, arson and other crimes which the ‘ma te me hu’ party visited on Ghanaians in the fifties and sixties after they were rejected at the polls has begun. On Monday, it was reported that an NDC supporter was stabbed (to death?) at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle for wearing NDC T-shirt. NDC supporters seeing wearing their party's T-shirts are set upon and beaten. What is the response from the government and the authorities?

As far as the 'Daily Post' is concerned, the lawlessness and thuggery being perpetuated by some NPP supporters is being encouraged by the NDC government and the authorities.

Are the NPP thugs who are at it not being encouraged to continue their thuggery because the government and the authorities will not act accordingly to halt it?

Kennedy Agyepong declared war, called on Ashantis to attack Ewes and Gas and yet is walking a free man! Samuel Awuku has made very criminal statements but the government and the authorities have refused to act. NPP supporters in the wake of the arrest of Kennedy Agyepong went to town and vandalized state and private properties. What was the government's reaction? Not even one person was arrested and prosecuted.

If Kennedy Agyepong, Sammy Awuku and Anthony Karbo had all been dealt as expected and if those NPP thugs who vandalized state and private properties had been picked up and prosecuted accordingly, Ghanaians will not be hearing of rampant assault of innocent citizens by NPP thugs today because “when the frog in front falls into a pit, others behind take caution.” If scape-goats are made of some, the rest will back off.

The NDC government is shirking its responsibility to innocent and law abiding Ghanaians by encouraging NPP thuggery. NPP thuggery is being encouraged by the failure to clamp down hard on the thugs. Perhaps, the government, the authorities and the police are waiting for the NPP thugs to visit their thuggery on a Minister of State or the child of a member of government before they act. That is how things work in Ghana— until a big man suffers, those who should act refuse to do so.

But, let those who are failing to protect innocent Ghanaians realize that in every man's chest, there beats a heart. Everyone has a limit to which he can tolerate such abuses. Everyone also has a right to defend himself. And, when people are pushed to the wall, they snap.

The NPP thugs, the NPP leadership, the NDC government, the police and the judiciary are all pushing peaceful Ghanaians to their limit. May we remind all, as Jerry Rawlings said on July 1, 1983 at Kwabeng that “there comes a point when moderation, restraint and the avoidance of confrontation becomes counter-productive”