General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu
According to the governing party, utterances from some leaders and supporters of the opposition party buttress its point.
“For instance, the NDC National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, is on record to have incited his party foot soldiers to undertake series of ‘overt and covert operations’, including setting markets ablaze and embarking on armed robbery attacks, in order to create fear and sense of insecurity in the country. Ofosu Ampofo is, of course, being prosecuted in court for this treasonable comment, and the court has established as a matter of fact that it was his voice in that leaked tape,” the NPP General Secretary, John Boadu, said in a statement released yesterday.
He continued: “Beyond the NDC National Chairman, mention can also be made of other leading members of the NDC, including their 2020 flagbearer, John Mahama, as well as their party executives, who are also engaged in this exercise of inciting their base to create mayhem and make the country ungovernable, particularly after their humiliating defeat at the 2020 polls.
“Equally, social media is awash with messages from some misguided members of the NDC, threatening to burn markets in order to ventilate their outrage at the outcome of the 2020 elections, which they are disputing.”
“As a matter of fact, there is an abominable Facebook comment, which has been making rounds on social media attributed to one of their guys, who used the name, Daniel Tee, threatening that ‘we are burning down Kantamanto tomorrow’. He made this comment on 15th December, and lo and behold, on 16th December, these hoodlums executed the act and burnt down the Kantamanto market,” the party added.
Call for action
The NPP has accordingly condemned these ‘arson attacks’ and called on the security agencies, particularly the Ghana Police Service, to take immediate steps in investigating and apprehending all the perpetrators of these callous acts.
“Equally, the party is urging our men and women in uniform to keep an eagle eye on these misguided elements following their threats to burn more markets in the coming days until and unless their 2020 presidential candidate is declared as the winner of the elections,” the party said.
“Already, they have burnt Odawna Market; burnt Kantamanto Market on two occasions; burnt Koforidua Market; burnt Kaneshie Market, and just yesterday, they set fire at the Asankragua Market. Which market is next? How many more markets are we waiting for them to burn? Certainly, we cannot sit unconcerned and see them destroy the livelihood of thousands in the name of politics.
“They must be called to order, and the time to act is now. Meanwhile, the NPP wishes to use this occasion to reiterate its sympathies to all the affected persons who have lost their valuables and livelihood in these arson attacks and assures them that the party stands with them in these trying times and will assist them in their pursuit for justice,” the party added.
Arrest
Meanwhile, Police and Intelligence agencies have begun arresting persons believed to be linked to fires.
A joint team of Police and Intelligence operatives left Accra on Thursday in pursuit of the suspect who was arrested at his hideout in Ho in the Volta Region on Friday evening at about 10pm.
Upon further interrogation, it was realised that the suspect was an active member on various political platforms, namely NDC Group Administrators, Renaissance Agenda 2020, among others.
Phone records show several conversations with other persons aimed at incitement to riot and possible conspiracy to attack other state institutions.
The suspect has reportedly admitted to the said conversations and to engaging with like-minded persons to execute some acts with the potential to breach the peace of the nation.
GUTA’s concerns
In a related development, members of the Ghana Union of Traders say they suspect arsonists to be behind the fire outbreaks.
Addressing the media after visiting the Kaneshie market, GUTA President, Dr Joseph Obeng, demanded full security protection for the market centres and modernisation of the various markets in the country.
“We demand immediate forensic investigation into these fire outbreaks. All manner of explanations are coming through; we are not going to take it unless forensic investigation has been done and proper solution is put to this,” he said.
“Otherwise, we can’t continue to contain this pain. It doesn’t make sense that the markets that are being built by political leaders should be burnt by same political leaders. I want to tell the politicians that this is not the target. The target should be the people who benefit directly from politics. They should identify them and burn their properties, not ours.
“We are innocent people, we just go and vote as our mandate and come and continue to do our business, we would not condone this,” he added.
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