Starrfmonline, an Accra based online network Monday January 9, 2017, published a story under the headline; “Exercise Restraint – Freddie Blay to NPP Supporters”.
The story quoted the acting national chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay, as calling on rampaging members of the party to desist from invading state institutions.
The call by the NPP Acting National Chairman comes in the wake of media reports pointing to the fact that some irate supporters of the party have attempted to takeover key state facilities since Monday January 9.
Some of the party’s supporters have seized toll booths across the country, as well as offices of state institutions, such as Youth Employment Agency (YEA), National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Passport Office and Tema Port among others in Accra and other parts of the country.
The official vehicle of the Municipal Chief Executive of Evalue Ajomoro Gwira constituency in the Western region, James Atta Kakra Baidoo was also impounded by some NPP youth Monday evening.
It is against this backdrop that The Chronicle believes the call is timely and very necessary, especially at a time that the world is applauding Ghana for her democratic credentials.
Interestingly, it appears that even though as a nation we have distinguished ourselves, as far as our democratic journey is concerned, we have not been able to properly handle how political party supporters take the laws into their own hands after elections.
The Chronicle believes that both the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which have both won political power under the 4th Republican constitution, are guilty of the offence, and the earlier something was done about it, the better.
It all started in 2008, when the NDC took over the rein of government after the general elections.
Some supporters of the party stormed some state facilities, especially public toilets and toll booths, seized and managed them, brutalizing NPP members who were manning the facilities in the process.
Conceivably, this accounts for the reason why supporters of the NPP have decided to pay them in their own coin; payback time, but the big question is, for how long should we look on whilst this impudence continues?
The Chronicle is of the firm conviction that it is wrong for supporters of NPP to take the laws of the land into their own hands and attack their friends and colleagues in the NDC to take over control of state facilities.
We cannot condone the actions of these supporters, neither can we endorse what they are doing because attacking people and vandalizing state properties amount to crime, under the laws of this land.
Even though the supporters may feel that they were side-lined by the former government in the appointments and recruitments into such state agencies and that it is their turn to also ‘enjoy’ the spoils of war, we still think it is not right for them to attack and vandalize people and properties.
The paper, therefore, suggests that while streamlining the rules and regulations in the Transition Act, the nation must endeavour to look at that aspect of the law to ensure that when a party wins power its supporters would not attack opponents and seize state facilities.
What this means is that as a nation, we must be clear on what exactly must be done when one political party wins an election.
Perhaps, government must run these facilities in partnership with private concerns so that whether there is change of government or not, there would be no interruption whatsoever.
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