Government has condemned as hate speech the 1st Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) F. F. Anto’s, suggestion President John Mahama deserved a death sentence for seeking a second term at the presidency.
Speaking on Accra-based Abusua FM yesterday [Thursday], F.F. Anto said President Mahama ought to be hanged or killed by firing squad following his bid for another four years in power on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The NPP Vice Chairman is also quoted by news reports as making reference to the death sentence handed out to a former President, General I. K. Acheampong, who was killed by a firing squad in 1979, indicating that President Mahama deserved a similar fate.
A statement from the Communications Ministry asserted that “hate speech, plotting violence and calls for murder must not have a place in our politics” and condemned what it described as the opposition NPP’s “constant resort to hate speech.”
“The NPP Vice Chairman’s death wish for the President is particularly striking if you recall a previous failed assassination attempt on President Mahama and the fact that only recently the NPP imported three South African Mercenaries to engage in secret training for some hooligans under the now known operation; code named ‘Assaulting the Pillars of Power,” the statement added.
Government thus called on the National Peace Council and the security agencies to increase their alertness and vigilance to ensure the early “isolation of such backward incidents likely to be perpetrated by men and women, who should know better.”
Find below the full statement
GOV’T CONDEMNS NPP 1ST VICE-CHAIRMAN FOR HATE SPEECH
The attention of Government has been drawn to some despicable and unimaginable comments attributed to the First Vice Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), F. F. Anto, indicating that President John Dramani Mahama deserves to be hanged or killed at the shooting range for seeking a second term as President.
The NPP Vice Chairman is also quoted by news reports as making reference to the shooting to the death of a former Head of State, General I. K. Acheampong, and indicating that what befell him is what President Mahama deserves.
Government takes a serious view of the NPP Vice Chairman’s comments on Abusua FM and wishes to condemn the opposition party’s constant resort to hate speech.
Hate speech, plotting violence and calls for murder must not have a place in our politics. The NPP Vice Chairman’s death wish for the President is particularly striking if you recall a previous failed assassination attempt on President Mahama and the fact that only recently the NPP imported three South African Mercenaries to engage in secret training for some hooligans under the now known operation; code named ‘Assaulting the Pillars of Power’. We believe elections are about counting heads and not cutting heads.
Government is therefore advising the NPP and all political actors to engage in progressive and 21st century politicking and not what divides and inculcates the resort to violence in our people.
Government is calling on the National Peace Council and the security agencies to increase their alertness and vigilance in order to ensure the early identification and isolation of such backward incidents likely to be perpetrated by men and women, who should know better as we have observed in this Issued in Accra on Thursday, September 8, 2016. index case to forestall an escalation of tensions in our beloved country particularly as we inch closer to the December 7 general elections.
Signed: EDWARD K. OMANE BOAMAH (DR.) (Minister)
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