Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a former Deputy Minister of Communication, has expressed worry about the number of NDC Members of Parliament who have been brought before the courts for alleged political opponents of the existing government.
His remarks follow the recent removal of military officers assigned to the Speaker’s office, Alban Bagbin.
According to him, the government’s new action through the Ghana Armed Forces is an attempt by the government to witch hunt members of the opposition party, the NDC, as a result of the back and forth around the 2022 budget declaration on the floor of Parliament.
“The Akufo-Addo government can be particularly crude in its waging of vendettas against political opponents, real or perceived. It has been up to all manner of devious plots to silence vocal critics especially NDC MPs and anyone they perceive to have had a role in the tumultuous scenes that characterized the rejection of the 2022 budget and the stalemate over the obnoxious E-Levy. Since 26th November 2021, when the unpopular budget was thrown out, about half a dozen NDC MPs have been hauled before all manner of investigative bodies on frivolous and frankly nonsensical charges,” he wrote on his Facebook timeline.
“These charges have nothing to do with any belief by Akufo-Addo in the rule of law or the fight against corruption because everyone knows he is the foremost enabler of corruption through his active participation in it and the shielding of criminality under his watch to the extent that it is perpetrated by his party folks. Now they have turned attention to the Speaker on the non-issue of Military guards,” he added.
In a related development, the Minority have raised red flags about the withdrawal of the military men stating that it was an attempt by the government to put the Speaker in harm’s way.
They also believe it is an attempt to gag the speaker and compel him to do the bidding of the government. On the contrary, the Majority group has refuted assertions that the move is politically motivated.
They emphasize that Speaker, Alban Bagbin, is a beneficiary from the “largest number of security personnel… that none of the previous Speakers had.”