Mahama chides police

Stories by Emmanuel Akli. President John Dramani Mahama has distanced himself from the violence that occurred at the residence of the opposition leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, 48 hours after the incident happened. The President is instead blaming the police, especially those at the Nima Police Station, for failing to take appropriate safeguard measures. Nana […]

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Stories by Emmanuel Akli.
President John Dramani Mahama has distanced himself from the violence that occurred at the residence of the opposition leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, 48 hours after the incident happened.
The President is instead blaming the police, especially those at the Nima Police Station, for failing to take appropriate safeguard measures.
Nana Addo’s Nima residence was attacked on Sunday morning by some supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who had embarked on health walk through some principal streets in Accra.
Nana Addo’s security men were compelled to fire warning shots in self defence. Both the American and British embassies in Accra were compelled to issue a press statement to condemn the act perpetrated by the NPP supporters.
“The British Government expresses its concern at recent incidents of political violence in Ghana in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections on 7 December. We condemn all violent acts by the supporters of any political party, including any occurring as a result of holding electoral campaign events close to the private homes of rival candidates”, British High Commission’s statement noted.
“The United States is deeply disappointed by the targeting of the home and family of the primary opposition presidential candidate. We condemn all violence in Ghana, including political violence in the period leading to, during, and immediately following Ghana’s elections scheduled for December 7th”, the US embassy also noted in their statement.
Earlier Nana Addo himself had issued a statement condemning the conduct of the NDC supporters.
“One would, ordinarily, have treated it as a one-off spectacle, in spite of the nature of the attack. However, my 4-day tour of the Brong Ahafo Region has revealed a rather disturbing trend, leading up to this year’s elections.
“In Sankore, on Thursday, October 10, I witnessed at firsthand, the open brutalization of NPP members. Prior to my visit, two NPP members had been brutally murdered by NDC thugs. The scars of intimidation and assault by thugs recruited by Eric Opoku, MP for the constituency and Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, are still evident.
In Asutifi South, a few kilometres away, another Minister in President Mahama’s government, Alhaji Collins Dauda, MP, is also perpetrating violence against his own constituents.
“Ghanaians heard on the radio comments made by the brother of Alhaji Collins Dauda to the effect that he kills people on a daily basis”, Nana noted.
But speaking to labour union executives in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said he is not a violent person and that what happened was unfortunate.
“Only last Saturday we almost had a clash which was unfortunate, if any of those firearms had been fired and someone had dropped dead, it would have been a completely different story.
I think we should be preventive enough in our actions to prevent such things. …I think that the police at Nima should have been better briefed knowing that this group was passing through and then we should have taken appropriate safeguards to ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen,” he said.
“By my nature, I’m not a person who encourages violence and I’ll never encourage violence. If any such thing will happen, it will not be because I have provoked it. We will avoid the flashpoints that create that kind of situation.”

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