National Democratic Congress Propaganda Secretary, Fiifi Kwetey is not the least amused at demands by the leadership of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) for ex-President Jerry John Rawlings to apologise for ‘atrocities’ of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime, which he led.

The NPP’s apology campaign follows a press conference last Tuesday, July 1 by the ex-president at which he catalogued ill deeds he said have been perpetrated by the government against the people.

A statement issued by NPP's campaign communication committee accused Rawlings of supervising the regime directly responsible for the murders of so many people, including at least the murder of four ‘famous personalities’ and wants him to publicly apologise for those murders.

The four ‘famous personalities’ are Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, F. Poku-Sarkordie, K. A. Adjepong and a retired officer, Major Retired Sam Acquah.

But Fiifi, with passion lacing his voice as he responded to the NPP demand on Citi FM Friday evening, tore at the party and demanded “how dare you” ask for an apology for the deaths of the four when the NPP itself is sitting over the deaths of the Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and over forty of his counsel plus that of Issah Mobilla.

“Is it not really amazing that a constitutional government would always want to be comparing itself with a military government? They are not able to make a comparison with another constitutional government which is the NDC. Their comparison has to be with the PNDC, which they call a military dictatorship and that should tell you something. It tells you how very low their performance has been, otherwise why would they be bothering themselves with what has happened in the PNDC rather than comparing with the NDC?

“But even so, I want to say that even the PNDC military is much, much, much better than the NPP constitutional government, and let me just say it in unambiguous terms. The most heinous crime that happened during the PNDC military, was the killing of the three judges and the retired military officer. The PNDC government ensured that even though that event happened in the dead of night, every effort was used to ensure that those behind it were found through a high-powered investigation, they were sent through the court system and paid the penalty for it.

“It did not even take up to two years to be able to do so.

“Under the constitutional NPP, with for example the killing of an opposition leader in Tamale, and the name is Issah Mobilla? How many years have passed since Issah Mobilla was taken from police custody, sent to the military barracks, tortured, turned upside down and killed in cold blood. Have we been able, four years on, to find the culprits? And you have a situation where a group of this brutal people who are doing this murderous, wicked, evil things under a constitutional regime would actually dare to point fingers at another government that was able to as it were, bring justice to people who were killed in the dead of the night?”

"Take for example the killing of the Ya-Na which happened in broad daylight near a police contingent, near the military people who were present and it happened in the know of the government of the day because they actually had oversight responsibility for the protection of the Ya-Na and all his people. How many years have passed on, have they been able to have even one person, one person let alone to do a prosecution? Nothing.”

Fiifi Kwetey would not be restrained by show host Fred Chidi as he railed in Nana Akufo-Addo, NPP presidential candidate, questioning his innocence in the Ya-Na’s death and the manner he handled the case while he served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice and during which period the events occurred.

Calling the NPP a group of callous and insensitive politicians, Fiifi said ex-president Rawlings has again and again apologised to the Ghanaian public for the very sins his accusers today demand a fresh apology for, and said they do so for their own political gains, insisting that while they (NPP) have themselves failed to offer even an apology for the killings under their watch, the wording of the statement issued in demand of a new apology speaks volumes of their nature.

He said the choice of words such as famous people suggested a class society where some people are more important than others and said under the NPP, those who are not famous deserve no remembrance.


Author: Isaac Yeboah