Ofosu Ampofo To Destroy NDC?

Monday’s National Democratic Party (NDC) intra-party shooting incident in Kumasi, which saw the killing of Abdul Wasiu, a 35-year old member of the party’s taskforce, by another armed member of a parallel vigilante group (Hawks), clearly boosts our earlier fears that the party’s national chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo may be on a ‘mission’ to destroy the NDC.

As we stated in a previous editorial, THE PUBLISHER has no option than to opine that the Kumasi bloodshed, coupled with the turnout of the recent Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency by-election, could have been triggered by the posture of Ofosu Ampofo the day he was elected.

In in his acceptance speech in November, 2018, Ofosu Ampofo’s posture was glaringly one of militancy. His speech was laced with assurances of an escalation of political violence under his leadership.

The paper is of the opinion that his stance could have impacted the positions taken by other prominent members of the party, including former President John Dramani Mahama, Sammy Gyamfi, Joshua Akamba, Peter Boamah Torkunor, and Bismark Borbi Ayitey, leading to the Ayawaso West Wuogon and Kumasi bloodsheds.

The paper thinks that in this age and time, vigilantism will not help any political party win power, including the NDC.

As for John Mahama’s assertion that the NDC is more violent than the NPP and is therefore ready to up its game in future elections, we think the former president has merely succeeded in inscribing his name on the negative side of the country’s political history. As for his meeting with the diplomatic community, he had simply shot himself in the foot with the blunders.

In the Kumasi incident, it will be recalled that Wasiu was shot six times in the stomach and other parts of the body by some suspected members of the Hawks, one of the deadliest vigilante groups in the party, while his colleague, Abdul Rahman aka ‘West’, who tried to disarm the shooter, also sustained multiple gunshot wounds and is currently battling for his life.

Even though the perpetrators of the heinous crime are yet to be arrested, we dare say that the current leadership of the party must be blamed for it. The national executive, in a seeming bid to win power at all cost, seems to be settling on violence as an only alternative.

THE PUBLISHER wishes to call on them to take a cue from Nana Akufo-Addo, who consistently entrusted his political destiny in the hands of the Lord, no matter how cheated he felt, and ended up winning the admiration of millions of voters.

The paper wonders whether the current NDC leadership is serious about winning any future election in this country if it continues to taint its image with violence.

What Mr. Ampofo and his ilk are failing to realize is that for decades, one thing that kept the Dankwa-Busia-Dombo political tradition (and for that matter, NPP) in opposition was the ‘tag’ that they were violent and had sponsored some bomb-throwing incidents in the First Republic.

Disappointed as Ghanaians may be today with the Akufo-Addo government, they are not ready to accommodate violence as an alternative to effecting political change.

Therefore, as the NDC prepares for its presidential primaries tomorrow, the leaders must realize that the party lost the 2016 general elections, not because it failed to be militant and violent, but largely because the presidential candidate at the time had virtually no message for the electorate.