THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on President J.E.A. Mills to ensure that the limited Akwatia parliamentary election comes off without loss of life or limb.
It alleged that the rate at which some National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists were attacking leading members and supporters of the NPP in the full glare of the police was an indictment on the current administration.
The General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow, who stated this at a news conference in Accra yesterday, also noted that the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and his deputy, Baba Jamal, who are also the National Organiser and Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, respectively, should not be in the leadership positions of the Regional Security Council for the purpose of the Akwatia limited election.
He said the continuous maintenance of their position and involvement in the elections were tantamount to conflict of interest and would not bring peace and trust.
He said the NPP would use all lawful means to challenge a list of about 500 people that the Baba Jamal claimed would be made to vote at some of the six polling stations.
Narrating the incident, Nana Ntow said last Thursday, the NDC held a successful rally at Akwatia but when it got to the turn of the NPP last Sunday, the NDC supporters took over the Akwatia town in a supposed bid to organise a keep-fit exercise.
That, he said, ignited confusion and the NPP supporters were not only assaulted, but were also attacked with machete and other deadly weapons resulting in the injury of at least 12 NPP sympathisers.
The NPP General Secretary claimed that on that same day, the NDC supporters in Akwatia cordoned off the Akwatia Zongo and never allowed the NPP to embark on its much announced house-to-house campaign.
The situation, he said, did not allow the NPP to sell its message to the people to make an informed choice and asked if the Zongos in the country were the preserve of the NDC.
Nana Ntow said the party was happy that last Saturday night, the hotel housing its leading members was searched by the police for weapons, because the NPP was of the firm believe that it would lead to peace and security in the area.
“What is regrettable about the searching exercise was that it was not replicated at those hotels where the NDC members had lodged. So what was the motive behind the search?”, he asked.
Nana Ntow again alleged that at the NDC office at Akwatia which adjoins Baba Jamal family house,some NDC youth mounted road blocks and forced vehicles plying the route to stop for searches and in the process, inflicted severe violence on people and passengers who they suspected to be supporters of the NPP.
Nana Ntow said in the afternoon of last Saturday, when calm had been returned to the town, the NPP decided to hold a mini rally in front of its office at Akwatia.
He said when the rally had ended around 4.15 p.m., a mob of NDC supporters who had gathered at the NDC office, attacked the convoy of leading members of the NPP who were being escorted by the police to their various places of abode.
He said in the process, the vehicles of the following NPP leading members were destroyed: Mr Peter Mac Manu, National Chairman; Nana Ntow; Mr Dan Botwe, MP for Okere; Madam Elizabeth Agyeman, MP for Oforikrom, Mr Kiston Kissi, the former MP for Akwatia, ??Mr Peprah??, Asamankese Constituency Chairman and Mr Yaw Amoabeng, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the party.
He also mentioned names and ages of 12 people who sustained various degrees of injury and were being treated at some hospitals in the area.
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