Opinions of Monday, 21 February 2011
Columnist: Damptey, Daniel Danquah
"Cowards die many times before their death. The valiant never tastes of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have seen, it seems to me most strange that men should fear. Knowing that death, a necessary end will come when it will come".
Animals adapt to strange situations. When their lives are threatened, they devise various strategies to ensure that they don’t become an endangered species. There have been situations when animals in danger have repulsed the attacks of their enemies and given back to them the same dose they have suffered at the hands of their attackers.
If we are all in a fenced structure and all of a sudden a lion appears, do we cry “agyei, Awurade ee” and wait until we are all devoured one after the other by the lion? Don’t we devise ways to counter the attacks and if possible get rid of the lion so that we shall be perpetually free of its rampant attacks?
The Nefarious Destructive Cancer is behaving like a vicious and ravenous beast. Having tasted blood from innocent NPP victims, it is yearning for more. The Nefarious contraption has tasted the blood of Ghanaians and it wants more. Who will confront it? Who will cage its insatiable taste of Ghanaian blood? The Nefarious destructive and cancerous contraption has bared its fangs and laid siege at the doors of the NPP. Words will not work for members of the contraption are adamant to reasoning. Words from the Holy Books will also not work for even though they profess to be Christians and Muslims, their actions depict them as people doomed and on their way to purgatory.
Mills and his cancerous contraption have meted jungle justice to our members. Even the Police Service has been compromised. Instances abound where the Police looked the other way whiles acts of inhumanity and injustices were perpetrated against members of the New Patriotic Party.
A few months into the Mills’ administration, the former Ashanti Regional Minister had incited members of then cancerous contraption with his “bo n’asom” philosophy whereby any member of the opposition parties who contradicts an NDC member could be slapped and the Regional Minister would use his high office to ensure that the person who ‘capriciously” did the slapping went scot free. How long did it take for the axe to fall on this Hitler? Over one and half years!
The Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and a failed parliamentary aspirant would not be left undone in these reckless and diabolical acts of cutting members of the NPP to size. He committed the most absurd and unthinkable act when he became the arrowhead of a well-calculated and criminal plan which resulted in the gruesome murder of a Man of God. The Deputy Regional Minister and a man rejected by the people of the area clandestinely smuggled the ‘murderer’ into his residence, camouflaged his presence by not only taking him into his bedroom, but also hiding him under his bed? What was he supposed to do under the bed? Was he expected to referee the sexual encounter between the failed parliamentary aspirant and his wife? For that, I cannot say.
At Agbogbloshie, few months into the NDC administration, some of their members engaged in an orgy of violence which became known as ‘Operation Flush’ whose aim was to flush out known and vocal NPP members from the market. Four supporters of the NPP were chased all over the market. These four endangered specie decided to seek refuge at the Police Station situated in the market. But what did we see? Right in front of the Police Station, those demented members of the cancerous contraption, in Klu Klas Klan frenzy, decapitated the heads of NPP faithful from their bodies. When Nana Ohene Ntow, former General Secretary of the NPP complained about lack of police action on the matter, he was arrested and interrogated like a common criminal by the Police. Till date, nothing has been done about the gruesome murder and the perpetrators of that heinous crime are walking the streets of Agbogbloshie and other parts of the country free men.
The point Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was enjoining supporters’ of NPP was that when confronted with similar situations, escape is not the best option. If the Four murdered NPP members had not run away but stood their grounds, perhaps they would be alive to be telling their own story.
Ghanaians were shocked about the bizarre circumstances resulting in the death of the Ya Nah and some of his supporters and also the killing of Issah Mobillah. What is Mills and the NDC saying and doing about the deaths of these NPP men at Agbogbloshie? Do they want to tell us that the blood of one Ghanaians is more precious than the other? When the NPP comes to power in 2013, the gruesome murder of these NPP members at Agbogbloshie will surely be investigated and the policemen who are doing everything possible to obliterate concrete evidence must be prepared to face the full rigours of the law. The blood of these innocent victims cries for justice!
We went for the Chirepone bye-election and NPP party men and women were subjected to the most horrendous ordeal that one would not even wish for his/her enemies. It was worse than the treatment Nazi Germany inflicted on the Jews. There, Dr Frimpong Boateng had to perform an emergency surgical operation on some victims of NDC violence.
The Akwatia RE-Run elections at six polling stations brought out their beastly nature in the Nefarious Destructive and Cancerous contraption. When God created the human being, he gave us certain traits which set us apart from other lesser intelligent creatures. But what we saw at Akwatia on that Tuesday of the re-run made some of us question ourselves whether it was the same God who created us. Apart from the atrocities which they perpetrated against us, a notorious ex-convict, Yaw Dankwa was openly seen firing a pistol in broad daylight and the security operatives sent to maintain law and order did not see the wisdom in apprehending this criminal. But the most astonishing aspect of the whole Akwatia show of shame is that, this Yaw Dankwa is the founder of the Church of Satan at Akwatia. If all that the NDC could parade is somebody who has gone against all societal norms to establish an anti Christian/Muslim organization, then I think core followers of such a tradition should have their heads examined.
It was also at Akwatia that the NPP duly accredited Agent in one of the six Polling Stations, Dan Botwe, was forcibly ejected from the Polling Station on account that his countenance did not appeal to the members of the cancerous contraption.
But the genesis of the whole hullabaloo stemmed from the fact that in the 2008 Parliamentary Elections, Baba Jamal, who was the candidate of the cancerous contraption had imported into Akwatia Township some Chadians with the sole instruction of snatching ballot boxes from some polling stations.. And that was exactly what they did. What Akufo Addo was telling his supporters was that a little bit of vigilance and resistance would have prevented the Chadians from achieving their nefarious aim. Akufo-Addo was telling NPP supporters that if they had resisted the Chadians in their attempts to snatch the ballot boxes, Ghana would have been saved the huge amount it expended on the rerun-elections. If the people had resisted attempts by Baba Jamal’s imported thugs,
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was only calling on patriotic supporters of the New Patriotic Party to performing their constitutional duties by protecting the mandate of the people.
Then came the mother of all “battles”(elections) That was at Atiwa. The Nefarious contraption, going by its name brought security personnel and political thugs to intimidate and cow citizens of the constituency into submission, thereby making it possible for the nefarious contraption to ride roughshod over the people and possibly overturn the mandate.
At Abomoso, these betrayers of people’s trust made numerous attempts to snatch ballot boxes. Initially, the people were cowed into submission by the presence of NDC macho men, whose battle cry was “destroy, lynch and main”. But the people got their aces together to repulse the invasion of the town. The setting up of road blocks in the town was a natural reaction to the injustices being perpetrated against the people. NDC thugs wanted to steal ballot boxes and NPP supporters and sympathizers, by collective will nipped their dangerous plan in the mud. What is wrong with that? Won haw ne sen? Did they expect us to look on helplessly like goats being sent to the slaughter house or cry: “Agyei, agyei, Awurade, beboa yen oo? No, we have passed that route already. Even in the Bible, Jesus Christ was not averse into using the whip in the Temple!
The Infitida was a natural reaction to the brutalities being meted out to the Palestinians by the Israelis. It is like the Law of Retributive Justice. If you throw a ball against the wall, it bounces back to you. For how long do Mills and the NDC want members of the NPP to be at the receiving end? Are our protestations not genuine to merit investigations? During the period NPP was in power, about six or so bye elections were conducted, but we did not hear of such complaints? If the NDC complained of intimidation and violence, I stand to be corrected and the party should bring documentary evidence of their complaints in the media, especially, those media which were sympathetic to their cause. What the Nefarious Destructive and Cancerous contraption did complain of was the gift of “koobi, kako, emo, asikre, bentoa ene sika” These were compaints in papers sympathetic to their cause.
On Friday, 4th February, 2011, I listened to Agenda, the newspaper review segment of NET 2. The host, as usual was Fiifi Boafo and Kwabena Sarpong of the NPP and Aquinas Quansah, NDC MP for Mfansteman West were some of the discussants. Now hear the Honourable Member of Parliament. He said he was driving with his friend and the high way and they noticed that a car was following them. They decided to make a detour from the main road to see if they were the target of the other car. Immediately they did so, the other car also branched. According to our Honourable member of the House, luckily his friend had a gun in the car. When they stopped, the friend brought out his gun and fired some warning shots. The assailants quickly sped off. The question is why did the friend fire some shots into the air? Why did he not wait and be attacked by the assailants. Was the firing of the gun not meant to deter his would be attackers?
Nana Addo was not advocating violence; neither was he inciting supporters of the NPP. At least, the NDC MP for Mfansteman West has in his own voice told us that when you come under attack, you can use any legitimate means to defend yourself. If you run away, they will still come for you anyway, and if possible, kill you. So, why don’t you stand up to them and face them. After all, unity is strength. So what is all the noise coming from the stable of the Greedy bastards?
You see, the orchestrated orgy of violence perpetrated by NDC hoodlums with the tacit support of demented party elders have reached such a crescendo that unless an antidote was found for it, the country would be doomed. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo was by his call calling for constructive engagement between opposition parties and the government of the NDC. He was not urging his supporters to cast the first stone. In answer to a question on intimidation from NDC against NPP supporters, he enjoined them to collectively join hands to defend themselves when they come under attacks. It is only those whose brains are infested with maggots that will find fault with such a statement.
The reference to Atiwa was to re-enforce the idea of collective responsibility of what a people determined to uphold the spirit and tenets of the Constitution could do. That was not a call to arms, but a call to NPP members that they must not sleep with both eyes closed during elections . During the Parliamentary Election, the NPP candidate for Ablekuma South decided to “go to sleep”. By the time he woke up and wanted to get to the collating centre, he was barred from entering. And that was how Fritz Barfuor won the Parliamentary seat. Yes, that was one of the things Nana was speaking about.
What did they expect Nana to do when he was asked that question? Whine, remonstrate or cry out? If this question had been asked of Mills, what would have been his answer? Any Presidential Candidate worth his sauce will encourage his supporters to be vigilant so as to prevent the mandate the people have given him from being stolen.
Justice Sarpong in a feature article on Ghana web on Monday, 14th February, 2011 gave us an insight into the mindset of the then Candidate Mills. “I want to repeat with all the forces at my command the warning note that I sounded last year”(2007). This was the mindset of then Candidate Mills. He was not even the President at the time he issued the warning.
I shall surely be back with the concluding part of this feature.
Daniel Danquah Damptey ([email protected])