The General Secretary of the main opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Aseidu Nketia has indicated that members of his family are as much involved in the ongoing series of demonstrations by the NDC across the country as grass-root also are.
His comment came on the back of questions from a section of the public of the whereabouts of the leadership of the party and their families in the scattered street protest by the NDC. It was asserted that the leadership of the party are inciting grass root members and supporters of the party to go on the street and demonstrate, putting them at risk while they and their families sit at the comfort of their homes with some family members even outside the country.
Mr. Aseidu Nketia refuted these allegations and said “they are in the trenches and part of the process. One of my sons is in Techiman already for the protest. So those who don’t know my sons, how are they saying they are not part of it.”
He further said the NDC’s rejection of the 2020 presidential results is not for the party’s candidate to be president but he said it is to preserve the nation’s sovereignty.
“This whole struggle is not about John Mahama becoming president, it is not about NDC ruling this country, it is about protecting the sovereignty of this nation and protecting our independence. So if anybody thinks that ‘this is a John Mahama’s protest so I don’t care, let me stay behind’ then the fellow doesn’t understand what is happening.”
The General Secretary of the main opposition also called out government to channel its energies towards fixing what he says is a decaying structure of governance.
He said the current measures being taken against the novel coronavirus will be in vain if steps are not taken to rectify the anomalies that “changed the verdict” of the just-ended polls.
Speaking on the back of the President’s 20th national address on measures taken against the spread of Covid-19, Mr. Nketia explained that, “if we’re going to die, many more people can die of bad governance than Covid. So you must fix the governance system.”
The NDC General Secretary cited reports of killings in Techiman South among others electoral violence that characterized the polls.
He stated that there is a relatively higher chance of him dying immediately from a gunshot than of Covid-19, hence his comparison.
“If I’m affected by Covid now, I have a chance of surviving and it will take me some time to solve. But if the shooting that is going on now… If they shoot me now, won’t I die? And I will die faster than the covid.”
He urged the government to “fix the wrong things that are threatening to throw this country into explosion than to be talking about Covid at this stage.”
The NDC has opposed the election verdict by the Electoral Commission which Nana Akufo-Addo was declared President-Elect by the Electoral Commissioner.
The opposition party has accused government of conniving with the Commission to skew the results in its favor.
The party is also alleging that government is adopting the use of security officials to intimidate persons at polling stations.