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Mr Alexander Grant Ntrakwa, Director of passports in an interview with Daily Graphic in Accra. PICTURE: BENEDICT OBUOBI
Mr Alexander Grant Ntrakwa, Director of passports in an interview with Daily Graphic in Accra. PICTURE: BENEDICT OBUOBI

Hell breaks loose as NPP activists chase public servants

Some activists of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) believed to be members of the Invincible Forces, the party’s vigilante group, yesterday stormed some state institutions to take over activities there because of the change in government.

While some of them are reportedly doing so as a means of securing employment, others are on a retaliatory mission for similar actions allegedly meted out to them when their party lost power in 2008.

In separate rampages, some activists of the party took over the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) office in Tamale in the Northern Region and a tollbooth on the Adenta-Dodowa road in the Greater Accra Region, while some irate supporters of the party assaulted members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Agbogbloshie, a shanty settlement in Accra.

Passport Office

Some of the rampaging NPP activists thronged the premises of the Passport Office in Accra, demanding the immediate removal of the Director, Mr Alexander Grant Ntrakwa, from office.

Reports indicated that it took the intervention of the internal security at the Passport Office and reinforcement from the Greater Accra Regional Police Command to weather the storm.

According to eyewitnesses, the perpetrators of the act got to the Passport Office around 1:30 p.m. and defied attempts by the security persons at the entrance to stop them from forcibly entering.

The activists were said to have made their way into the office, where they allegedly claimed that they had been ordered from above to come and take over operations there.

Visit

When the Daily Graphic got to the Passport Office around 3 p.m. yesterday, some of the culprits were still there, insisting that Mr Ntrakwa should leave in his own interest.

It was suspected that the perpetrators were activists of the NPP, since most of them had the party’s wrist band and other paraphernalia on them.

One of them, who gave his name as Sulemana Aliu, alleged that the tenure of Mr Ntrakwa as the director of the outfit had elapsed and that they were there to ensure that he left for a new person to take over.

“We do not care if people will align us to the NPP or any party. The fact is that we are Ghanaians who have suffered for many years in our quest to acquire passports because of the cumbersome nature of operations by the officers.

”There is a new wind of change and Ghana will have to work again. We cannot wait for this director and his people to do what they like,” he added.

Narrating the events of the day to the Daily Graphic, Mr Ntrakwa said he suspected that the rampaging NPP activists were being remote-controlled by some powerful forces.

“They arrived here in three cars, one of which had Mr Patrick Boamah’s posters on it. They started shouting: ‘We have taken over’, while six of them came into my office and claimed that they had been directed to take over the place,” he added.

Mr Sulleyman Ali and his people agitated over the stay of the director of passport. 

Explanation

Mr Ntrakwa said the claim that he was unwilling to leave office was a palpable lie, adding that it was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration that assigned officers to the Passport Office and that it was not a political appointment.

According to him, he had been re-assigned to perform other duties abroad, adding that he was waiting to officially hand over to the new director before he left.

He said arrangements had been made for him to officially hand over to the incoming director today.

Agbogbloshie

At the Agbogbloshie slum, there were renewed clashes between NPP and NDC supporters in the area, as the former sought revenge for alleged attacks on them in 2008.

The attackers sought to take over some rooms, stores and facilities that were allegedly taken from them by NDC supporters in 2008.

It took the timely intervention of the police to foil some of the attacks, while some of the residents had left the slum for fear of their lives.

Tema Port

From Tema, Dela Russel Ocloo reports that some members of the Invisible Forces in Tema and Ashaiman stormed the  port to demand the engagement of their members.

The action of the group was said to be in protest against the alleged recruitment of members of the Accra group to work at the Tema Port.

Led by Mr Mohammed Ali, the group said those in Tema and Ashaiman ought to be considered first in any recruitment exercise at the Tema Port.

Not even the intervention by the Member of Parliament for Tema West, Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, would convince the group to budge.

Verification team

Ostensibly, the Minister-designate for National Security, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, had sent eight officers from the National Security Secretariat to the Tema Port to verify certain information in the transition notes handed to the government by the Mahama government.

But news of the presence of the eight officers was misconstrued to be the engagement of new officers to fill vacant positions at the port, without recourse to the Tema and Ashaiman members of the group.

Mr Ali told the Daily Graphic that if vacancies had been created at the port, members of the group in Tema and Ashaiman, who contributed to the party’s victory in the December 2016 elections, ought to be considered first.

Party bigwigs

Not even the presence of some party bigwigs in the Tema metropolis, including Mr Ahenkorah, could convince them to soften their stance.

It took officials of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) close to three hours to dialogue with the group to beat a retreat.

They subsequently asked the port officials to make available a vehicle to transport them to their destination about 12:20 p.m.

GPHA

The Corporate Affairs Manager of the GPHA, Mr Paul Ansah Asare, told the Daily Graphic that although the action was not against the authority, the government of the day ought to manage the expectation of its followers.

“We made them to understand that the officials detailed to the facility were there on a specific assignment, contrary to their claims,” he said.

He said information flow to the rank and file of the party ought to be managed well, since the action of the group clearly showed that they were not well informed as to what the people delegated to the port were there to do.

“While there was a letter from Mr Kan-Dapaah’s office informing the GPHA that the said security personnel would be at the facility to conduct an exercise, the group misconstrued the said information to be a recruitment on their blind side,” Mr Ansah said.

From Kumasi, Kwadwo Baffoe reports that some youth believed to be members of the NPP went on rampage and seized public toilet facilities.

They were also reported to have also gone to the Rattray Park for a similar exercise, but they were not successful.

The group, who said they were working on the orders of the Youth Organiser of the NPP in the Bantama Constituency, also tried to stop toll collectors of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) from collecting their daily tolls, claiming it was time for party members to also benefit from employment.

The youth, numbering over 20, moved from one facility to another, trying to stop the workers from operating those facilities.

About seven toilet facilities within the Bantama sub-metro have been seized by those alleged party youth.

The situation nearly degenerated into a conflict when the police, together with the military, tried to restrain and arrest the youth at one of the facilities within the Bantama community.

The youth resisted arrest and threatened to engage the security personnel in a fight.

Calm later prevailed and the youth left the facility.

NPP’s response

In a related development, the National Youth Organiser of the NPP, Mr Sammy Awuku, has asked the youth of the party who are allegedly taking over state institutions to refrain from such acts.

According to him, the party frowned on any act of violence by its youth that could derail the peace of the country and divert the attention of President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo from taking off on a good note as he strived to fulfill the promises he had made to Ghanaians.

“I want to call on the youth of our party to be calm, while full-scale investigations are launched into the reported incidents of violence. If it is about jobs that they are allegedly engaging in such acts, I can assure them that the President will put in place policies that will create jobs for all Ghanaians,” he said.

Mr Awuku called on the security agencies to be on the alert in order to foil any attempt by any person or group of persons to disturb the peace of the country.

He added that it was possible for criminal elements to take advantage of the circumstances to carry out their diabolic plans.

He assured the public that steps would be taken to ensure that all citizens went about their duties without fear of intimidation.

 

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