By King Amoah
Tensions have reached a boiling point in the Ashanti Region the political stronghold of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as party activists and leadership have indicated their strong condemnation against what they described it as a systematic campaign of political witch hunting by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to party sympathizers in Kumasi they are not comfortable about
the continuous government arrests of NPP members..
Bright Kumah a staunch Npp supporter of Kumasi Bantama indicated that State security are being used to intimidate political opponents to the contrary to the 1992 constitution.
Leading party figures in
the Ashanti Regional NPP reiterate that the current administration under President John Dramani Mahama is operating outside the confines of the law
One of such figures Mr Columbus Appiah. did not mince words when he stated that the party needs to strategize measures to discourage government from unnecessary arrests arrests of innocent party members
who are branded as criminals.
Appiah said as a nation the Npp cannot shield or resist government from lawful arrests and prosecution of corrupt citizens but what is currently happening in the country speaks volumes.
The np is fully aware that democracy is a system of governance rooted in the rule of law but not a license for the ruling party to persecute its opponents, Appiah stated.
Using state security to effect unlawful arrests is an infringement on the fundamental human right Appiah observed.
The NDC must remember that power is temeral and that no one occupies a seat of government forever.
Columbus Appiah reminded the government that political tides inevitably shifts and that if the NDC continue to visit brutalities upon the opposition they should be prepared for the same when an inevitable change of government occurs.
This is because when one hits a ball against the wall it bounces back to the person who threw it.
Appiah urged President Mahama to allow democracy to function rather than turning the state institutions into tools for personal vendettas.
Readers can recalled that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia the NPP flagbearer has broken his silence on the matter, condemning the current administration’s actions as unconstitutional.
Dr. Bawumia’s intervention indicattes the gravity of the situation as he joins the growing chorus of voices that are demanding an end to what he terms as an unprecedented wave of political arrests.
Adding his voice to the growing outcry, the General Secretary of the NPP Justin Frimpong Kodua has issued a direct warning to the government.
He cautioned the Mahama administration to exercise restraint noting that the current arresting agenda against the leading NPP members set a dangerous precedent.
They must be careful, Kodua remarked. The precedent they are setting today will be the same template they would face when the NPP takes over the reins of power.
We are calling for the protection of the constitutional rights and an immediate end to the harassment of our members Kodua concluded in his reecent statement in reaction to the arrests of the Npp stalwarts by the security operatives.
