Opinions of Friday, 2 April 2010

Columnist: Sayibu, Akilu

Republic Of Ghana Now Republic Of Lawlessness Under President Mills!!

Firstly it was at the Agbogloshie market in Accra that supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were butchered to death in broad day light in front of a police station by alleged members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and nobody was arrested not to talk of prosecutions!

Then houses belonging to members of the NPP in Tamale were burnt with some even killed and yet again nobody was arrested and not even condemnations were issued by the government of the NDC against those barbaric acts. A lot of things happened then that I don’t think I can recount here.

So I will fast forward to events that happened in Ghana under president Mills in the month of March alone. In March a chief of Tuobodom was kidnapped by supporters of the Techimahene who is generally believed to be a sympathizer of the NDC. The kidnap of the chief did not attract any action from the government of the NDC and national security until the Ashantehene who has jurisdiction over the Tuobodomhene threatened to also kidnap the Techimahene before the government and national security came to its senses.

Then on the 22nd of March 2010 the chief of Gariziegu Yakubu Andani was murdered by lawless thugs and president Mills and even the Member of Parliament for the constituency who is an NDC MP that the chief was killed have failed to condemn what happened.

It must be said that, there were other killings at Amasaman of three people including a local chief on the 22nd March 2010 over land issues an no fly was even arrested! President Mills is so quiet over these issues that, it is not known if he is currently in Ghana at all!

At Zabzugu in the Northern Region on the 23rd March 2010, some thugs of the NDC descended on staff of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) drove them away and locked up the office for simple reason(s) that the NDC failed to give them jobs!

The National Executives of the NDC themselves who seem to be in approval of these uncouth acts by their members were themselves locked out of their own office by irate youth of the NDC calling for the dismissal of a certain Carl Wilson as Chairman of the confiscated vehicles allocation committee on the 25th March 2010.

At Bunkpurigu in the Northern Region houses were burnt and some even killed over some conflicts there. The government of the NDC which promised to make Ghana safe for all is helpless and seems confused over this lawlessness in various parts of the country. President Mills is behaving like “Alice in wonderland” Then on the 27th day of March 2010 NDC youth in Yendi smashed the windscreen of the vehicle of their constituency chairman and declared the Municipal Chief Executive “persona non grata”. The MCE had to be whisked away to unknown location.

The lawlessness got to a head when on the 28th March the NDC youth in Yendi in an interview on Joyfm and Peace fm in Accra said they will kill the MCE should he dare step foot to Yendi. His only crime is that the youth claimed he failed to award contracts to them and to create jobs for them as well. Even with this threat to kill the MCE of Yendi, the police said they could not arrest anybody! On the same 28th Day of March 2010, the MCE of Tamale Alhaji Harruna Abbulai escaped a kidnap attempt at Sagnarigu during the burial of the chief of Gariziegu Yakubu Andani who was murdered by thugs earlier. When the MCE was later interviewed on City FM he was sort of “justifying” the attempts to kidnap him by only calling on the youth to eschew lawlessness but was unwilling to make any report against his alleged kidnappers to the police!

What must also be said is that, the Ga Matse was on air accusing president Mills of undermining his authority as chief and failing to give him recognition even though he was hailed and recognized when President Mills and his NDC were looking for power before the 2008 elections. There is currently deep rooted rumpus between the government of the NDC and the supporters of the Ga Matse! It must be explained that, the youth of the NDC got the temerity to embark on these chaos as a result of some level of support they had from some ministers. For instance the Ashanti Regional Minister is reported to have entreated supporters of the NDC to slap and beat anybody who speaks against the NDC. The level of lawlessness in Ghana is so much appalling under president Mills that, some people are of the view that Afghanistan is safer than Ghana! What even makes the case more worrisome is the fact that, the Police at times say they are unable to effect arrests because politics and politician are usually involved!

What I did like to suggest is that, the government of the NDC and the Security agencies must be up and doing before things gets out of hand. Indications are that people who feel the security agencies can not make them safe are likely to find alternative ways of defending themselves and when these happens the consequences will be so disastrous for the country. Let us make the country safe for all by getting it out of the “lawlessness republic” it has achieved for itself