NDC MP for Adentan constituency, Kojo Adu-Asare has taken a swipe at the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, for what he said is his failure to condemn Kennedy Agyapong for his ethnocentric comments against Ewes and Gas.

According to Mr Adu-Asare, merely saying that one will not condone any divisive comments does not amount to condemning such irresponsible comments.

Addressing chiefs and people of the Volta region as part of his tour of the area on Friday, Nana Addo emphatically stated that he will not tolerate any act that seeks to divide Ghanaians.

He said, “I want to state here with all the emphasis of my command that I do not have any ethnic agenda and I would not condone any such agenda.”

But speaking on Radio XYZ 93.1 FM’s current affairs programme, What’s New on Friday, Hon Adu Asare said Nana Addo’s speech was an attempt to hoodwink Ghanaians. “They are trying to play smart and play on people’s minds. It sounds as if they have done it but in itself, they have not.”

He said the argument that the NPP as a party condemned Mr. Agyapong’s comment is unfounded because “there was nowhere in that statement that condemned the acts of Hon. Kennedy Agyapong. They only said in part that they don’t condone ethnic and tribal issues that will raise [tensions].”

He said the NPP only distanced the party from the comment but failed to condemn it outright. He debunked the argument that Nana Addo failed to condemn the comments because it would amount to interfering in the merits of the case. He said “civil society has come out to condemn; churches, pastors, trade unionists, academia and all manner of people. Are they not also Ghanaians whose utterances or condemnation can also affect anything?”

He said contrary to such assertions, the judges will weigh the merits of the case and not sentiments of others and that if Nana Addo did not want his “all-die be die” mantra to escalate, it would have been prudent for him to condemn Mr. Agyapong’s comments.

Much Ado About Nothing

But a deputy Director of Communication of the NPP, Perry Curtis Okudzeto, insists that the party’s official statement condemned the ethnocentric comment by Kennedy Agyapong.

According to him, the NDC’s position on the matter is much ado about nothing, stating: “whatever Kennedy Agyapong said amounts to intemperate language. Whether it was a declaration of war or the ethnic statement that he made, [they] amount to intemperate language.”

“If Kennedy Agyapong had not made the statement, the party wouldn’t have issued a statement so why would you say that the party did not condemn. Then what did the party condemn? What is the party dissociating itself from? The party is dissociating itself from the comments of Kennedy Agyapong,” he stressed.

Mr. Okudzeto said the meeting with the chiefs in the Volta region was not specifically scheduled to address Kennedy Agyapong’s comments because it was set up long before the latter made the comments.

“It is prudent for a leader and a statesman like Nana Akufo-Addo to touch on such an issue that borders on people of the Volta region if he got the opportunity and he did that…”

He said the meeting was intended to clear the air on the hullabaloo and that Nana Addo’s response should rest the matter.

“We should realize that there is a lot of tension in our political space and we should make sure that we all do things in a manner that limits the tension,” he averred.