The National Peace Council (NPC) is being hypocritical given the timing of their call for investigations into the violence that characterised the just-ended voter registration exercise, Deputy National Youth Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Eric Edem Agbana, has said.
He said the Council remained mute when calls were being made to them to condemn acts of violence during the exercise therefore, issuing statements on the exercise days after the completion, in his view, smacks of hypocrisy.
The Council has in a statement on Monday, August 17 called on the police to quicken investigations being conducted into the circumstances that led to the violence associated with the just-ended voter registration exercise.
The statement addressed to the Inspector General of Police said there was the need to speed up the investigations in order to forestall the problem from recurring.
There were isolated cases of violence during the 38-day exercise.
The two main political parties, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), traded accusations among themselves regarding who caused the violence.
But the NPC believes that the investigations will unravel the cause of the violence.
“The NPC encourages the Ghana Police Service and, particularly, the Inspector General of Police to expedite action regarding ongoing investigations into all the criminal matters which came up during the registration exercise,” the Council said in a statement.
However, speaking on the TV3’s New Day Tuesday, August 18, Mr Agbana said their call is too late and further asked them “to sit up”.
“The call is a little too late for the [National] Peace Council to be coming out at this time. It is their hypocrisy, it exposes the fact that the [National] Peace Council has not lived up to expectation these past few years under Nana Addo [Dankwa Akufo-Addo].
“Where was the [National] Peace Council when Voltarians in Banda were crying and calling out for help?
“Where was the [National] Peace Council when the Assembly Member for Gbi Electoral area had to record the video crying and calling out for support? Where was the [National] Peace Council when the young gentleman, Selas, was murdered by vigilante forces allegedly affiliated to President Akufo-Addo and the NPP parliamentary candidate for the Banda Constituency?
“Where was the [National] Peace Council when the people of Ketu South were crying out against the intimidation by the military? Where was the [National] Peace Council when all sorts of violence was unleashed during this registration exercise?”
Meanwhile, a member of the NPP, Kofi Ameyaw, who is also Head of Information for Ghana Permanent Mission to United Nations, said on the same show that the bastardisation of institutions such as the Council should stop.
He stated it is on record that the Council has made public condemnation of acts of violence and also made comments on other national issues happening in the country therefore, the accusation of hypocrisy against them is unfair.
“The bastardisation of institutions is not good and must stop,” he said, adding: “On the issue of Banda, the Peace Council instituted a fact-finding committee or a team to really ascertain what happened.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana