The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, has expressed utmost concern and dismay at the growing levels of impunity and lawlessness that have crept into the country under the rule of President John Mills in just 2½ years and has called on the President to “for a change, begin seeing evil, hearing evil and acting against evil”.

News of an alleged assassination attempt of the ruling party’s Ashanti Regional chairman, last Thursday, by NDC members has been described by the NPP Chairman as “taking violence in NDC politics to another alarming level which must not be tolerated.”

In an interview with The New Crusading Guide, the NPP Chairman stated that the charge from NDC’s own members that the reported gunshot fired in an attempt to eliminate their Ashanti Regional chairman was the work of an opposing faction of the same NDC, has gotten several ordinary NPP members calling to ask him what would the NDC do to the NPP in 2012 if this is what they are doing to their own members over an internal ‘democratic’ contest.

“Violence has no role in our politics and even more worrying is when gunshots are being fired as a tool for silencing your opponents in a democratic Ghana. This is extremely disturbing and we are concerned about the direction President Mills is taking us. He is a President of see no evil, hear no evil and a clear depiction of the weak leadership he has shown unrivalled capacity in giving Ghanaians over the last 30 months”, Jake stated.

According to the NPP chairman, this latest development, together with a string of other criminal acts perpetuated by NDC footsoldiers, does not auger well for Ghana’s democracy, expressing fears that President Mills and his NDC administration are using their one four-year term to roll back two decades of democratic gains.

In the opinion of Jake, “We can’t just sit by and watch this unfortunate negative change happening.”

With barely four days to the NDC presidential primary, with only two candidates contesting for the sole position on offer, there are growing concerns that the insults, intimidation, threats, harassment and violence, including the Kumasi shooting, that have blighted the short campaign, could all come to a head at the Sunyani congress.

“This is just an internal party contest where it is only the leadership of the party that is at stake and look at what is happening. What will happen in this country in 2012 when it is about the leadership of the nation?” Jake asked.

Jake added that the country should not allow the NDC to divert attention from other more pressing issues like poverty, unemployment, falling standards of education, high prices of goods and commodities and unpaid salaries to workers across the country.

According to Jake, if we leave it to the NDC and their incompetence they would talk about drugs and nothing else and the debate is not about the policies and programmes that government has put in place to tackling the menace.

“President Mills should start acting like a leader. Even if he can’t find solutions to the increasing poverty and joblessness that his rule has brought about, let him at least be active in tackling this growing culture of impunity and lawlessness. Ghanaians want asomdwe!” the NPP Chairman charged.

“You can’t develop a nation with a programme of propaganda”, he said. The NPP Chairman, however, expressed the wish that this weekend’s presidential primary would close off without any violent incident. “It is the wish of the NPP and indeed all peace-loving Ghanaians that the NDC congress passes off without any incident of violence and all Ghanaians have to pray for a peaceful NDC congress”, Jake added.

However, the NPP Chairman was deeply anxious about the capacity of President Mills to ensure a peaceful contest in 2012.

He has admonished the President to “free up” the Police to perform their constitutional mandate of protecting the citizenry of this country from political violence, in particular. He cited the notable negligence on the part of the police to take action against suspected NDC assailants as a major motivation for this culture of impunity.

Jake mentioned the gruesome broad daylight murder of NPP activists at Agbogbloshie in front of a police station; the violence unleashed at all three of parliamentary elections held at Akwatia, Chereponi and Atiwa since Mills took office; seizure of public toilets, NHIS and NYEP offices by NDC footsoldiers, the burning down of some 27 compound houses and a party officer in Tamale, and death threats issued to District Chief Executives by NDC footsoldiers, which have all happened without any perpetrators being brought to book, even though several persons have been identified and named by witnesses.