Registering to vote is a civic duty for every eligible voter in Ghana which must be carried out peacefully and without any intimidation. Unfortunately, this year’s registration exercise has been marred in violence including killings, alleged beatings and shooting in some registration centers. There is ample evidence to show that most of this violence have been encouraged and carried out by NDC members and the known among them is parliamentary candidate from Ododiodiodoo constituency, Nii Lanty Vanderpuije. Sadly Nii Lanty also happens to be presidential aide. Yet the president has stayed silent or made comment that is worrisome. First the president controls all the security agencies in the country including the police, so for him to say he is not “law enforcement officer” is troubling. Did the president forget that he is the commander-in-chief? The first responsibility of the president should be security of his citizens irrespective of party affiliation. But the president has failed miserably in this area.
It is about time the president shows some leadership before the problems we are witnessing now get out of hand. Just saying you are “a peace loving person” is not enough? For far too long this president has refused to take responsibilities for the ills that have happened under his watch but finds ways to blame the opposition.
Under no circumstances Nii Lanty should be working in the castle at this time due to unprofessional manner he has conducted himself during the registration exercise. According to Nii Lanty own mouth on peacefm news two weeks ago; he and his so-called agents know every resident in his constituency because before the registration started, they went to each house in the constituency to count the number of people living there. So if anyone comes to register and claims he/she is from this particular house but his thugs do not find that person in the names they have compiled, that eligible voter will not be allowed to register. Just think about his logic for minute.
It is also alleged that his thugs in some of the registration centers in the constituency are preventing registrants with Akan sounding names from registering. The president and his security agencies are aware of all of these developments but have shown no leadership in addressing these problems. His see no evil; hear no evil attitude when it comes to NDC member is very regrettable. The president torn deaf attitude is seriously undermining our democracy. I will never condone what Mr. Kennedy Agyapong said on the radio station but I can understand why he made those statements. If the president has shown leadership in dealing with Nii Lanty and his militants in Ododiodiodoo constituency and others in the rest of the country, I do not think Mr. Kennedy would have made those unfortunate comments. If Nii Lanty can prevent some residents in his constituency from registering because of their akan sounding names, why can’t I also prevent registrants with Ewe, Ga or northern sounding names from registering in Ashanti or Eastern region? That was the point Mr. Agyapong was making.
The president should have used the same speed at which he used to arrest Kennedy Agyapong for his incendiary comments at Ododiodiodoo by arresting Nii Lanty’s thugs and sacking him from his administration. That is what leaders do. But as he has done throughout his tenure in the office, Nii Lanty continues to hold his position as presidential aide at tax payers’ expense and I will not be amazed if he gets a higher position very soon.
We should all applaud the judicial branch of government for not kowtowing to the whims and caprices of this administration by granting Mr. Agyapong a bail because his continuous detention could have escalated to something unpleasant. Some of us had expected the president to have shown leadership also here by at least making a brief statement concerning the arrest because this was not an arrest of ordinary person. He is a member of parliament arrested by the president. Yes I say arrested by the president because, as I have said before, the president controls all the security agencies including the police. Mr. Kennedy could not have been arrested without the orders from the castle. The government legal team will find it very difficult to prosecute and win this case in any independent and competent jurisprudence unless you have the likes of David Annan, Kobby Acheampong or Agyenim Boateng as Judge. Yes Mr. Agyapong’s comments were despicable but treasonous and genocidal? They do not come close to loosely definition of treason or genocide crimes. I hope they heed to Justice Charles Quist’s advice by amending the charges against Mr. Agyapong. Under a true democracy with separation of powers among the three branches of government, Mr. Agyapong’s undignified comments would have been referred to the leaders of the parliament for any necessary action. But as I have always said, parliament have abdicated their constitutional responsibilities and become so weak and ineffective that I sometimes wonder why we should not abolish it? Tension in Ghana is very high now and we need a true leader to calm everyone down. But unfortunately this president is not providing the leadership Ghana urgently needs.
Mother Ghana is crying for a strong leader.
Kwaku G. Poku Virginia, U.S.A.