Baba Jamal Defends Himself

Deputy Minister for Tourism, Baba Jamal, has blamed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the violence that erupted during the re-run of elections at six polling stations at Akwatia in the Eastern region in 2008, saying that the mayhem that characterised the elections was caused by agents of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said this when he met a section of the Eastern regional press corps at Akwatia over the weekend to interact with them and assure them that he was ready to work with them and preach peace during the electioneering period.

He said allegations by the NPP that he had organized some supporters and ‘machomen’ to cause mayhem during the election re-run were totally false.

According to Baba Jamal, who declared Jihad against the NPP, it was the NPP who had tried to transport people from other parts of the constituency to vote at those polling station to increase their votes , thus creating tension at the polling stations.

He said after all the manipulations and violent acts, NPP sympathisers pointed accusing fingers at him as the brain behind the mayhem that occurred at Akwatia during the elections.

He told the journalists that as far as he was concerned, Akwatia and its people were peaceful.

According to him, the Akwatia constituency did not see any visible development during the NPP’s tenure of office but under the NDC, it had seen tremendous development.

Baba Jamal, who has been standing on the ticket of the NDC since 2000, said through his initiative, the defunct Akwatia Consolidated Diamond Company had been resuscitated to give employment to the people in the constituency, an FM station had been opened in the constituency not only to sell the constituency but also to give employment to people in the area, while the constituency had been upgraded to a district.

“All these things have happened in just three years under the NDC but the unfortunate thing is that even with the creation of the new districts, our brothers in the NPP are fighting against it in parliament,” he said.

In a sharp rebuttal to Baba Jamal’s claims, the Eastern regional Youth Organizer of the NPP, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, said the former deputy minister was only trying to throw dust into the public’s eye.

“Baba Jamal’s declaration for peace is only a smoke-screen and that all that he said were an attempt to divert people’s mind so that he can implement his plans to rig the elections at Akwatia,” he said, stressing that Baba Jamal was the one who organised some NDC machomen to steal ballot boxes at Akwatia and also instigated the violence that characterized the election re-run at the six polling stations.

“What is Baba Jamal trying to tell us? During the recent Atiwa by-election some of us personally saw Baba Jamal leading some machomen to attack innocent people,” he said, adding that the NPP was well grounded at Akwatia and that he should not make any attempt to disrupt the elections this year, as he did in 2008.