Pressure group, the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), has condemned the National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah's Sectarian Comment in Central Region, describing it as “shameful”.
The NDC chairman, in a viral video, called out the people of Central Region for being disloyal to the party they have benefitted from in years.
He asked why they would be “replacing their intestines with rubbish” by voting for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Speaking at an NDC event in the Central region, Mr Nketiah noted that the NDC has consistently chosen prominent individuals from the Central Region as presidential candidates and running mates in elections.
"In our first election, we chose someone (K.N. Arkaah) from the Central Region as our running mate. In our second election, we selected Prof. Mills as our running mate, and in our third election, Prof. Mills became our flagbearer. In our fourth and fifth elections, Prof. Mills was our flagbearer. He won and became President."
"When he died, John Mahama took over and selected someone (P.K. Amissah-Arthur) from the Central Region to be Vice President. After Amissah-Arthur, today, we have Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang from the Central Region as our running mate and soon-to-be Vice President." He told the crowd.
He, however, questioned why, despite the party's consistent nomination of individuals from the region, the people of Central Region do not vote massively for the NDC.
"So, you have a lot of valuable assets, but you are discarding them. Why are you throwing out your intestines and replacing them with rubbish?"
Adding that "If you don’t make it to Heaven, don’t blame Jesus."
His comment, according to AFAG in a statement, can “heighten tribal hatreds and regional suspicion”.
The group believed the NDC chairman was “fanning a dangerous and blatant politics of tribe and ethnic extraction” ahead of the December 7 general election.
AFAG further called on the public to “condemn the national chairman of the NDC whose stock in trade is fanning tribal politics during each election cycle as his family remains and continues to live comfortably in Canada.”
Read the full statement below
NDC Chairman's Sectarian Comment in Central Region Shameful - AFAG
Asiedu Nketia is on record as fanning a dangerous and blatant politics of tribe and ethnic extraction, which can invariably heighten tribal hatred and regional suspicion. The results of this kind of politics can be terrifying, as has been observed across many African countries, particularly in Kenya and, very recently, Nigeria.
This divisive political tactic is a very slippery road and a threat to the peace and unity of Ghana. AFAG is against any form of politically masked sectarian, ethnic interest like the one being propagated by the NDC in the Central region.
This backwards style politics that is being systematically introduced into our body politics by Asiedu Nketia in his quest for political power is shameful and distasteful.
The Central region is v in Ghana’s political landscape, and the residents therein are at liberty to exercise their franchise as they deem fit. The attempt by the NDC’s national chairman to maul them because of their choice of vote pattern is undemocratic and unconstitutional.
We implore the national chairman of NDC and any other person on this tangent to not deliberately plant seeds of discord among the various ethnic groupings simply because he desires political power for his self-aggrandisement.
The good people of the Central region have always known what is good for them, and this is observable in the vote pattern since the beginning of the 4th Republic.
AFAG calls on the general public to condemn the national chairman of the NDC whose stock in trade is fanning tribal politics during each election cycle as his family remains and continues to live comfortably in Canada. This shameful practice must stop now.
God bless Ghana
AFAG Leadership
(O544759734)
