
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been shaken by the comments of Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture, to supporters of the NPP at Kwahu on Saturday April 8, 2023.
Addressing NPP members after a health walk, the Minister, who is also MP for Abetifi, said the “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”.
Subsequently, the NDC demanded that the Ghana Police Service to instantly apprehend and prosecute the Abetifi MP. A statement signed by its General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey, described Mr Acheampong’s comments as “reckless and treasonable”.
Unwarranted
In response, a statement released yesterday by NPP General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, considered 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”.
The NPP noted that it is no secret that the opposition NDC had always resorted to violence and intimidation against their opponents during the conduct of general elections.
“He (Mahama) 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 Nketia, the National Chairman of the party, have made similar threatening and malicious comments.
“Indeed, following his election as National Chairman, Asiedu Nketia stated in his victory speech that the NDC would fight the 2024 general elections to win a second independence for Ghana, and that they were prepared to sacrifice everything including, their lives, for an NDC victory,” portions of the statement read.
From the foregoing, the statement said if anybody has to be arrested by the Police for treasonable comments, then certainly it is John Mahama for his continuous “Do or die for the NDC” in reference to the 2024 general elections.
It also added that another culpable individual is party’s National Chairman, Asiedu Nketiah for his brazen proclamation that members of the NDC are willing to sacrifice their lives to win the 2024 elections.
It, therefore, described the opposition’s statement as not only “ill-founded, hypocritical, illogical, and baseless”, but also one that “lacks contextual substance for the consumption of the discerning Ghanaians.”
Assurance
The NPP further assured Ghanaians that the 2024 general elections would be transparent, fair, and devoid of violence from any political party.
It stressed that the NPP remains a peace-loving party, and would not do anything to endanger the peace and security of the country, expressing the hope that “the NPP would emerge victors to continue its transformation agenda”.
The statement promised that the party will guard jealously the country’s image of being the bastion of democracy on the African continent.
According to the statement, the message the Minister sought to communicate to NPP members was “…that, under no circumstance should they feel intimated 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 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 added.