The Deputy Minority leader has described as shameful a defence mounted for the takeover of the Kintampo Waterfalls by the New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) Invincible Forces.
James Klutse Avedzi said Deputy NPP General Secretary, Nana Obiri-Boahen’s justification of the group’s action is pathetic and should not be encouraged.
“I am totally devastated and ashamed that he could defend the action of Invincible Forces using what happened in 2009,” he told Evans Mensah on Joy FM’s Top Story programme Tuesday.
A total of 20 students largely from Wenchi Methodist senior high school perished after a huge tree tumbled on them at the Kintampo Waterfalls Sunday.
At least 11 others suffered varying degrees of injuries and were sent to the Kintampo Municipal Hospital for treatment.
Two days after the accident, it has emerged some members of NPP’s Invincible Forces are those manning the place after sacking the original managers following the party’s victory in the 2016 elections.
The men who are believed to have no training in the management of the centre are said to have been in charge for more than three months.
Mr Obiri-Boahen in an interview with Joy News said the youth may have taken over the centre as payback for what happened in 2009.
“Those who want to probe further should find out what happened in 2009… NDC activists, NDC hoodlums, NDC sympathisers invaded the place, chased my workers out, beat them up, vandalised the place, broke into offices and they used the police. No policeman was able to touch them,” he said.
He said, “We don’t know anything about it. The party is not involved. The party has never directed, instigated, encouraged, facilitated any individual to take over (the waterfall).”
But Mr Avedzi said Mr Obiri-Boahen’s justification is a tacit endorsement of post-election hooliganism in the country. “He is saying whenever there is a change in government we should continue to do that.”
“That is not proper,” he said, entreating government to bring the men to order immediately.
On his part, private legal practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini, has cautioned against describing the accident as an “act of God.”
“I think we should hasten slowly [and] take our time to examine the evidence,” he said, adding the facts will inform who needs to be held responsible for any lapses that may have led to the deaths.
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