Stop The Tribal Harassment Or Shut Up – NDC to Defence Minister

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul to grind to a halt the military brutalisation on tribal lines or shut up.

This comes after consistent allegations by the NDC that the government has been targeting to disenfranchise Ewes in Volta and Banda from partaking in the ongoing new voter card registration.

The NDC cautioned the defence minister to stop lying and denying the incidents or shut up.

According to them, there is an “effort by the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul to attempt to justify some of the ethnocentric events we have witnessed in the ongoing registration. The Defence Minister’s ludicrous attempt to explain away the sheer use of brute force and physical assault by certain elements in the once-revered Ghana Armed Forces to prevent some legitimate Ghanaians from taking part in the ongoing registration process only goes to reinforce President Akufo-Addo’s attitude of ‘see no evil, hear no evil.”

The NDC added, “For the Defense Minister of Ghana to be justifying the unfortunate use of armed soldiers in peacetime to terrorize innocent civilians belonging to a particular ethnic group in areas such as Banda, Oti Region and Ketu South is ample testament to deliberate targeting of that ethnic group, regardless of where they find themselves.”

“Dominic Nitiwul should stop the unlawful use of armed military men to harass innocent Ghanaians based their tribe or ethnicity in the ongoing voter registration exercise if he still has a conscience or shut up and spare us his lies if he has nothing meaningful to say. We have had enough of their chicanery and insults.”

Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul had on Monday insisted claims by the NDC that the military are intimidating and brutalizing a particular ethnic group is false. He called on the opposition party to provide evidence for their claims.

He said “The parties ought to respect the agreement that they themselves have signed. So if the NPP tries to bus in people, they will be stopped. Same with NDC and another political party. So all I urge is for the political parties to respect what they have signed and allow the people to go individually and register…but when you try to bus in people, it is the duty of the security service people to stop you because that was the agreement from REGSEC.”

“The former president is wrong and misled to think that the military is being used to suppress people. The Volta Region he cited, can anybody tell me that the figures in the Volta Region are lower than the national average? Obviously not. So where is the voter suppression? Are the figures in the Northern Region lower than the national average? Obviously not. Are the figures in the Greater Accra Region also lower than the national average? It is also a no. So where is the voter suppression here again? We also have over 30,000 registration centres, how many centres have we seen military personnel visit for anybody to conclude there is voter suppression? Of course, they have visited registration centres where there is trouble and they will continue to places where there is trouble but for anybody to conclude especially a former president and Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces to conclude there is voter suppression, he is misleading the people.”

Source: GhanaFeed.com