Nana Addo cries for Atiwa

The spectacle of peeled skin of two New Patriotic Party (NPP) sympathizers nearly moved the flag-bearer of the party, Nana Akufo Addo, to tears when he visited them at the Enyiresi Government Hospital in the Atiwa district of the Eastern region on Sunday.

Eleven people sustained various degrees of injury when a Toyota Prado car allegedly belonging to the women’s organizer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) ran into then at a roadblock at Abomosu last Tuesday, during the bye-election.

Nana Akufo-Addo first visited 18-years-old Isaac Agyemang Duah at the regional hospital at Koforidua where he had been referred to, owing to complications in his fractured leg before visiting the other two victims at Enyiresi.

After Enyiresi, he went to Abomosu where the gory incident happened, to visit the rest of the injured sympathizers. He assured all the injured people that the party was solidly behind them and would do everything to assist them in their pains.

“I heard everything that took place on that fateful day and I have decided to come here myself to have a firsthand knowledge and also sympathize with you and your families,” he said at Abomosu. Daily Guide learnt that the Party had deposited an undisclosed amount of money with the hospital authorities to take care of the hospital expenses and other needs of the victims. The NPP flag-bearer took time to visit the victims after attending the closing ceremony of a two-day orientation work shop for regional party executives from the Eastern, Ashanti and Volta regions at Koforidua.

Nana’s presence at the Enyiresi hospital also gave hope to workers on duty and huge relief to the mother of one on the victims who momentarily abandoned the sick people to exchange pleasantries with the flag-bearer.

Speaking on Eastern FM, the flag-bearer called for proper investigations into the incident, saying Ghana is too democratically matured to be experiencing these acts of violence during bye-elections.

According to him, the violence during the Atiwa bye-election should tell Ghanaians about the nature of NDC.“During the reign of NPP, we had several of such bye-elections but did not hear such disturbances. However, Akwatia, Chereponi and Atiwa elections all under NDC’s tenure had been characterized by massive violence, leading to many people being maimed,” he said. “I believe what happened at Atiwa would be a big wake-up call for all Ghanaians to ensure that NDC does not plunge this country, which is a beacon of Africa, into political violence.”

Nana Akufo-Addo explained that Ghana had enjoyed relative peace resulting from a stable democracy and any attempt to dent that image would have serious repercussions on the country. “Everywhere in the world, people see Ghana as the star of Africa in terms of functioning democracy and peaceful investment destination and it is incumbent on the Mills administration to preserve that reputation and not destroy it,” he stressed, adding that the NPP was very much concerned about recent developments in the country.

The newly-elected NPP Member of Parliament for Atiwa, Amoako-Atta added that the party will seriously take the matter up. According to him, they had already lodged a complaint with the police and are waiting for their response before further actions.