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General News of Monday, 19 August 2013

Source: joyonline

Sir John's violent nature was NPP's campaign strategy - Yarley

A National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwart says the widely condemned violent disposition of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)'s General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, also called Sir John, stems from the party's posture towards the Presidential and Parliamentary polls last year.

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) Chief Executive revealed that for a long time, he has been preoccupied with finding the motivations for Sir John's confrontational nature - but last Wednesday's events at the Supreme Court and subsequent events shed a lot of light on his quest.

"If your [NPP's] grand objective was that [the 2012 election] must be won at all cost...and you follow it up with tactics, that says 'all die be die' then you [NPP] set the framework [for violence]".

He said Arthur Kennedy, a former NPP Communicator and Presidential aspirant, was spot on when he said that Sir John cannot be asked to resign, when the party's 2012 flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo, who made the infamous 'all-die-be-die' comment, is still at post.

"And indeed if you listen to various communicators of the NPP, before, during and after the elections, you will come to the conclusion absolutely that they set themselves up to act, and as a matter of fact, create this kind of situation for Ghana", Mr. Yarley noted.

Citing Anthony Karbo's tape in which he was alleged to have said that he was arming mercenaries to destabilise the country should the 2012 elections be rigged, Mr Yarley observed "the political...objective which the NPP set [for itself]...is what we are achieving".

Sam P. Yarley said the writings have been on the wall regarding the events that unfolded at the Supreme Court on Wednesday August 14 - when the NPP General Secretary and a party communicator were convicted of intentional criminal contempt.

In a condescending description of the NPP General Secretary's demeanour in Court, he stated Sir John was "standing there in the dock like some class one boy who has stolen from his mother and he has been reported to the teacher".

But the NDC stalwart attempted a summary of events that led to the events at the Supreme Court:

First he mentioned the objective of the NPP when they started the 2012 electioneering campaign - noting they adopted a confrontational approach, which was sustained by the likes of Sir John, Hopeson Adorye, Anthony Karbo and other party big-wigs.

His second point was Sir John's incessant attacks on the Presidency - of both late Prof Mills and John Mahama - recalling that anytime someone attacked him [Sir John] his reaction was directed at the Presidency.

Furthermore, according to Sam Yarley, Sir John had the knack of putting out inaccurate information.

He re-called that recently when the head of one of the security companies managing the Kotoka Internal Airport was busted in the United States for attempting to smuggle narcotics into that country, Sir John quickly alleged the man who had been busted was an NDC man, when that was clearly false.

Also, he noted that Sir John all along carried himself as if he was above the law.

He said when Bawumia's car got involved in an accident in Tamale, without recourse to the laws of the land the NPP General Secretary went ahead to hide the car, when Police were yet to visit the scene to begin investigations.

Finally, he said Sir John, who claimed to be a Christian did not respect God when he said Dr Bawumia, the NPP's vice presidential candidate in the 2012 elections and the second Respondent in the election petition was his God.

He noted that all that were build ups to the humiliation which Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie encountered in Court last Wednesday.