The Member of Parliament for Keta in Volta Region, Richard Quashigah, has described as infantile and immature the recent violent attacks allegedly carried out by members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to him, such actions do not resonate with the country’s aspiration to build a nation based on trust, respect for human rights and tolerance.
In a statement issued on Thursday, December 15, 2016, on the developments on Ghana’s political landscape following the December 7 general elections, Mr Quashigah said the perpetrators of such acts must depart from the unhealthy tendencies.
“For those who think that when a political party to which they belong wins an election, then members of the vanquished party must be attacked, cowed and subdued to feel insecure should understand that it is a display of infantile and immature behaviour. We need to build a nation that is based on trust, respect for human rights and tolerance. Political actions and behaviours must be informed by the tenets that guide its practice and not acts of beastiality and criminality”
He said, following the elections, the country can be touted as one of the few countries in Africa with the most matured democracies.
He however expressed concern that the in spite of the positive stride, the country is yet to build very effective institutions devoid of political interference.
“With some degree of certainty, one could aptly say we have joined the league of matured and stable democracies of the world.” What perhaps is missing is the effective functioning of our institutions devoid of political interference and absence of apolitical personnel manning these institutions. This is a palpable minus for our glowing and admirable constitutional development which we all count as a pride.”
He said this situation has led to some youth of the NPP in the wake of their victory over the governing NDC in the recently held presidential elections, resort to “rampaging and illegally taking-over public establishments because those running these establishments are perceived wrongly as necessarily members of the vanquished political party even at a time when the vanquished political party is still in charge of government business.”
He further expressed shock over what he describes as lackadaisical attitude of the Ghana Police Service in dealing with the “criminality.”
“What was most surprising was the lackadaisical attitude of the Ghana Police Service to act against what was an obvious criminality; a clear manifestation of systemic and institutional failure.”
Addressing an accusation by former Minister of State, in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, Yaw Osarfo Marfo that the NDC government was recruiting new personnel and selling state property few month of exiting office, Mr Quashigah said the NDC government cannot afford to halt regular national administration activities because the country was in a transition period.
“Does those pronouncements and misgivings by Mr Osafo Marfo to suggest that government machinery must grind to a halt within the transition period? We must admit that the recruitment exercise started months before the general elections that was won by Nana Addo. Should it be truncated simply because a new government has won political power and is expected to assume the reins of government in some three weeks to come? That lends itself to the lack of trust in our own institutions,” he quizzed.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
