NDC can't discriminate against the Abudus

Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rubbished the Minority in parliament claim that the ruling NDC government is politicizing and discriminating against alleged murderers of the Dagbon King, Ya Na Andani and some of his elders, by arresting only members from the Abudu gate.

He also denied that the arrest was to satisfy the founder of the NDC, FIt. Lt. J. J. Rawlings, who had mounted pressure on the Mills' administration.

The NDC Chief Scribe, who was reacting to the claims of the Minority in Parliament, in an interview with The Chronicle, expressed concern over Hon. Ambrose Dery's conduct, since he is an accomplish lawyer and should not have debated an issue pending before the courts.

According to the NDC General Secretary, also known in political circles as 'General Mosquito', the arrest and the trial of the suspects bad nothing to do with either Abudu or Andani gate, and that the law is only dealing with suspected criminals. He said "no one is above the law", whether an Andani, Frafra or an Ashanti, everybody is equal before the law'.

According to him, the suspects, who had been arraigned before court, were identified as those who had committed a crime and have to face the law. "It appears they (minority) are not repenting from the mistakes they did which led to the culture of impunity in this country," he said.

According to him, the interest of Dagbon and Ghanaians in general was to bring the perpetrators to book, and this is exactly what the NDC government was doing.

The NDC General Secretary also pointed out that during the electioneering campaign, a group of suspected criminals burnt 22 houses, several vehicles and stores at Gushegu, all belonging to NDC sympathizers.

According to him, when Dr. Addo Kufuor, then Minister of Interior visited the scene, the suspects were named, arrested and brought to Tamale, but following a protest from the various NPP Constituency Chairmen in the Northern Region, the suspects were set free.

The NPP chairmen, as revealed by Mr. Nketiah, met in Tamale and demanded the release of the alleged Gushegu criminals, else they would resign from the NPP, and the Kufuor government bowed to this pressure.

He revealed that the former Northern Regional Police Commander at that time was caught on tape saying that the suspects were mainly from the NPP, and since there were no NDC members among them, he could not arrest the culprits.

According to him, the NDC held a press conference about the issue, accusing the NPP's move as a ploy to protect the criminals. The NDC Chief Scribe indicated that since the NPP government could not do anything about the situation and NDC is now in power and know the criminals, "we have to ensure that they are arrested and tried in accordance to the laws of this country".

Mr. Nketiah also said the promise by President Mills to set up a Presidential Commission to look into the matter was not an issue now, because the commission as promised was to unearth evidence for prosecution, and since the evidence has already been gathered by the cm, there was no need to waste time setting up the Presidential Commission.

He also told The Chronicle that President Mills' visit to the Regent of Dagbon was legal, because as far as the government was concerned, Dagbon has only one regent, whom the President visited. According to him, the regent was both constitutionally and customarily enskinned as the legitimate regent of Dagbon, adding "it was not the NDC that en-skinned him as the regent.

The Chronicle, April, 2010