News:
February 11, 2019
With the violence that characterized the just ended by-election at Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has given indications that the party would embark on a trip to donor and diplomatic communities on Monday.
According to the chairman they would meet with the Americans, British, Canadian, European Union DFID and USAID.
The funding agencies, demand some transparency fairness and neutrality from security Agency and EC once we would give them the chronology of event and what is happening, on the electoral land map.Which is not making the process transparent, not providing a level playing field this time we want to go to them and let them know things going on; we do not want to put everything into the public domain, it is not good for the country, he said in an interview.
“When we meet them behind closed doors, we can discuss a lot more into details give them some evidence and pictorial evidence and all the things that they ought to know that would help them insist we create a level playing field for 2020 and beyond”.
He further pointed out that if the above bodies would fund Ghana’s election, it must peaceful; not invest into a bloody elections, Ghana is a peaceful democratic country.
He was however quick to point out that “we know a President who introduced violence in his own party when he was made the flagbearer, invisible forces beat their own party people, they burnt cars; he is now President and wants to extend that one, walayi we are not going to accept that”.
“We are sending a clear signal to the President that, those of us in the NDC we are not cowards, we are law abiding party, but cannot be taken to be our week point, we do respect the rules of the game”.
And told party supporters at Dome/Kwabenya where he was guest of honor at a maiden awards ceremony, he was at the Inspector General of Police’s (IGP’s) office on election day, “I asked him who deployed the people in the musk, he said, ‘I do not know them’ and we are dead”.
“If people are occupying police vehicles and are being driven by the police, and the IGP says he does not know them we are in big time trouble”.
“When we meet them behind closed doors, we can discuss a lot more into details give them some evidence and pictorial evidence and all the things that they ought to know that would help them insist we create a level playing field for 2020 and beyond”
When you look at the political parties laws voters are not to be intimidated on election day, it actually reduce the turn out; you need to name and shame people who have engaged in this, the law must take its rightful course and serve as a deterrent so that people would not come and do that it also create the awareness, he said.
Also people at the polling station should be each other’s keeper and ensure that people who do not have anything to do on election Day are not permitted to come there to disrupt things.
“We need public education, we are not in government, we do not have arms, we do not have anything but we would train our people sharpen their skills and make them effective at the polling stations to ensure we are not short changed at the various polling stations’.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com