Minority 'Going Overboard' With Their Numerous Letters To The President – John Boadu

The General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP), John Boadu has warned the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be mindful of their action in the process of the disbandment of the Vigilante Groups.

According to him, the President of the land (Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo) is not their co-equal for them to be writing to him all the time instead of them (NDC) addressing their concerns to the NPP Headquarters.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he emphatically stated that the opposition party is 'going overboard' with their numerous letters to the presidency as they have already written to the Peace Council, so wondering why they wrote to the President again.

He reiterated that if they are not interested in the dialogue they should let Ghanaians know and stop this back and forth tactics they are exhibiting.

“Sometimes when someone doesn’t want to do something they try everything possible to come out with so many excuses to create negative impressions . . . NDC as a party is coming from a revolutionary background, therefore unleashing violence has always been their hall mark, so we are not surprise about what they are doing,” he said.

Mr. Boadu added that what he has noticed concerning the disbandment of the vigilante groups is that the NDC is trying to bring the name of the President into the discussion so that they will later turn around and accuse him of sidelining them in the process.

He asked the NDC to accept the verdict of the Peace Council after the dialogue.

John Boadu maintains that the NPP is always committed to the disbandment of vigilantism because it does not benefit them in any way.

Meanwhile, National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the National Peace Council to choose a date and venue for the proposed party militia disbandment talks between the main opposition party and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) as proposed by President Nana Akufo-Addo during his third state of the nation address.

In a response to the NPP’s official invitation to the talks, the NDC, in a letter signed by General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said: “We write to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 15 March 2019 and wish to thank you for the contents therein.

“We are gratified that you have, in agreement with our view, confirmed our position that this discussion has to be a multi-stakeholder engagement.

“In furtherance of this, we have taken the liberty to request the National Peace Council to kindly exercise its statutory mandate and assume the role of mediator in the deliberations on the above subject (disbandment of party vigilante groups).

“We hold ourselves ready to meet your good selves at any venue and date the National Peace Council may propose."

President Nana Akufo-Addo first proposed the meeting in February following the gun violence that marred the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on Thursday, 31st January, 2019.

The NDC, however, wrote to the President, through its National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, suggesting that the National Peace Council be made part of such a meeting as a neutral interlocutor along with other stakeholders.

The President responded to that letter insisting the two parties were capable of meeting at the table to deal with the problem themselves without involving outsiders.

The NDC replied the President in a second letter in which the party insisted on having neutral third parties such as the UN, AU, and ECOWAS at such a meeting to mediate the talks.

In his second reply to the NDC, the President said he had ordered the Attorney General to start drafting legislation toward outlawing party militarism without prejudice to any meeting the two parties may subsequently have over the same matter.

The NPP’s invitation letter, written by its General Secretary, Mr John Boadu addressed to Mr Ofosu-Ampofo for the meeting on the subject matter, said he was pleased, on behalf of the party, “to officially invite you [the NDC] to a meeting to discuss the menace of political vigilantism, which has gained notoriety in the country, and explore ways of permanently disbanding the various vigilante groups associated with Ghana’s two major political parties”.