Some members of the youth wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have vowed to prevent former President John Agyekum Kufuor from attending the inauguration of John Dramani Mahama as President of Ghana on January 7, 2013.
The have planned to
march to the Airport West residence of the former President to articulate their disapprovalfor his decision to
break ranks with the NPP which is boycotting the ceremony.
The
office of the former President has indicated that President Kufuor would
attend the inauguration because he is a statesman and should therefore
rise above political party affairs.
But Hopeson Adorye, a senior member of the Young
Patriots – a group within the NPP youth wing – said “The youth of the
party will not allow President Kufuor to attend the inauguration. He
will have to drive over us to attend this illegal swearing in.”
He
called on “every member of the NPP who loves President Kufuor and the
party” to “march to President Kufuor’s house and let him know that we
will not allow him to attend this inauguration.”
The National
Council of the NPP Wednesday reaffirmed its decision not to accept the
results of the December 7 poll and backed the petition filed by Nana
Akufo-Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, NPP
Presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate and chairman
respectively, at the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of the
results of the 2012 Presidential Election declared by Electoral
Commission Chairman, Dr Afari Gyan on December 9, 2012.
The
Council “also decided and directed that the party shall boycott the
planned January 7 inauguration ceremony of John Dramani Mahama and Kwesi
Amissah Arthur, as President and Vice President of the Republic,
respectively. This decision is binding on all members of the NPP,
including parliamentarians.”
In a statement the Council said it
had taken the decision “in order to underline the critical principle of
any democracy that the results of an election should reflect the voice
of the majority of voters, not the voice of those who count, collate or
declare the results.”
Hopeson Adorye expressed worry about the
propaganda spin that would be placed on President Kufuor’s attendance of
the inauguration by members of the NDC, saying “The youth of this party
are going to protect the image of the former President. We will not
allow the NDC to use him for propaganda, to say former President Kufuor
has betrayed Nana Akufo-Addo.
“We will not allow him to soil his name with all the allegations of bribery being made against him. If he attends this inauguration, you can imagine the headlines in the NDC papers a day after,” he stated.
source: Adomfmonline
