You are here: HomeNews2001 11 06Article 19343

General News of Tuesday, 6 November 2001

Source: .

Prosecute Rawlings' Ex-bodyguard - NPP Youth

The Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for the immediate prosecution of Warrant Officer Patrick Kuntoh, former aide de camp and bodyguard of ex-President Jerry Rawlings for "deceit and mischief".

This is because a police report following investigations into claims by Mr Kuntoh that armed robbers attacked him vindicated its position that it was "a stage-managed affair calculated to create instability with the view to subverting the current constitutional dispensation."

A statement in Accra signed by Mr. John Boadu, Acting Head of Political Bureau of the Youth Wing, said it found Mr Kuntor's action a clear case of deceit and mischief. It said the details of the report, which was no doubt, the result of painstaking and professional efforts, showed that ex-President Jerry Rawlings and his band were prepared to resort to violence to further their diabolic and sinister agenda.

Mr Kuntoh had said armed robbers attacked his residence and a statement from the office of ex-President Rawlings signed by former deputy defence minister, Dr. Tony Aidoo, said he cut short a trip to Botswana because of an assassination attempt on his aide de camp.

"The details of the so-called attack confirm suspicions of elements of the (P) NDC being the brains behind the recent spate of armed robberies, which has assumed alarming proportions since the NPP took over the government this year.

"This grand design has clearly emerged as a carbon copy of the campaign of destabilisation conducted by Rawlings against the Limann regime, which culminated in the overthrow of that government by the very Rawlings who handed over power to him. "Unfortunately this time, the NDC, a constitutional body seems to have lent itself as an instrument for the execution of this subversive act."

It urged the security agencies to step up their surveillance duties in the interest of the overall security of this country. "We suggest a 24-hour round-the-clock watch of Rawlings and his partners in subversive conduct, no matter the noises of 'intimidation and harassment' they are bound o make."