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| NPP planning to rig elections - Tony Aidoo |
6/8/2007 |
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A Leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Tony Aidoo, has charged all members of the party to remain focused and stand firm during next year’s general election to "prevent the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) from rigging the elections to perpetuate their stay in power".
He alleged that the results of the 2004 elections did not reflect the true picture on the ground and attributed the situation partly to the lack of vigilance on the part of some polling agents during the elections.
Dr Aidoo claimed that this time round, the NPP was planning to use the ROPAL as a means to rig the forthcoming elections and cautioned that, "the ROPAL would not fly; it would be over our dead bodies that the ROPAL would fly”.
He was speaking at a forum that formed part of the 28th anniversary celebration of the June 4 1979 Uprising in Tamale. It was organised by a youth group of the NDC in Tamale known as "64 Bench”.
A large number of party supporters and cadres attended the forum at the GNAT Hall. Also present were some Members of Parliament, regional executive of the NDC, former district chief executives and ministers of state of the erstwhile PNDC/NDC government.
Dr Aidoo, who received a standing ovation when he was introduced to the crowd, also lambasted the ruling government for practising nepotism and promoting tribalism in the appointment of public officers since it assumed power in 2000.
He further accused the NPP of practising selective justice and persecuting its political opponents.
Dr Aidoo quoted a statement purported to have been made by the former Senior Minister, Mr J.H. Mensah, soon after the NPP came to power to the effect that, "by the time we finish persecuting you, the NDC would be no more." , to back his assertion.
He traced the history of political violence in the country to the Danquah-Busia tradition and described the then leadership of the tradition as terrorists and wondered why such people should be honoured? " by raising monumental statues for J.B. Danquah and Obetsebi Lamptey in Accra.
"All atrocities seen in this country cannot equal those meted out to innocent people by members of the Danquah-Busia tradition," Dr Aidoo said.
He described the June 4 event itself as an uprising against corruption, injustice and inhumanity and not a revolution. According to him, June 4 swept away the filth, and 31 December came to rebuild.”
Dr Aidoo also said "for me, there are only five major political events that have happened in this country in the past 50 years".
These, he enumerated as the formation of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), by Dr Kwame Nkrumah in 1949, independence in 1957, the February 24, 1966 coup which toppled the Nkrumah regime, the June 4 Uprising and the December 31 revolution.
The Northern Regional Secretary of the NDC, Alhaji Harruna Abdulai, said June 4 had contributed significantly to the current democratic dispensation in the country as it sought to ensure probity, accountability and a sense of discipline.
He entreated former cadres and other activists of the revolution to rally behind the NDC and also get actively involved in its activities to ensure that the party won the forthcoming elections.
The secretary also urged party supporters to be mindful of the propaganda machinery of the New Patriotic Party, which was aimed at discrediting and disintegrating the NDC.
Other speakers included the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Mr Inusah Fuseini.
Source:
Daily Graphic
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