A SECTION of youth purporting to come from the New Aduampong Zongo in the Atwima Kwanwoma Constituency in Ashanti Region, have debunked the assertion that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is against the interest of northerners as against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that seeks their interest.
The Zongo Youth, who made the remarks when they visited the Kumasi Office of Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to reinforce their defection to the NPP, expressed concern about the propagandist machinery of some politicians who over the years, sought to portray some political parties in the country as biased against some ethnic groups.
In the September 25, 2010 issue of the Daily Graphic, the Executive members of Atwima Kwanwoma Constituency of the NDC issued a statement, debunking recent media report that 65 members of the NDC at New Aduampong Zongo had defected to the NPP.
According to the executive, “ the story was a political propaganda work undertaken by the NPP” and therefore urged the public to “ treat the story with contempt”.
Reacting to the remark by the Atwima Kwanwoma Constituency Secretary of the NDC, Mr Kingston Opoku to the effect that the 65 Zongo youth from New Aduampong who defected to the NPP were misled by the Member of Parliament of the constituency Dr Appiah Kubi and that the NPP had nothing good to offer northerners from the area in particular and northerners in general, the youth said “our defection is, real”.
“We have also never confessed to anyone or a group of people that we have nothing to do with the NPP as reported by the Daily Graphic on September 25, 2010” he stated.
They said it was unfortunate that Mr Kingston Opoku had played down their intelligence and asserted that the 65 Zongo youth at New Aduampong, who defected to the NPP were manipulated by Dr Appiah Kubi.
Their Spokeperson, Mr Mumuni Sumaila, noted that after comparing the government of the NDC since 1992 and the eight year reign of the NPP, “ we have decided to pitch camp with the NPP and want to assure our detractors that we defected on own volition, but not through the manipulation of any politician as the Atwima Kwanwoma Constituency Secretary of the NDC want the world to believe”.
It would be recalled that the statement signed by Mr Kingston Opoku also alleged that “ the NPP Member of Parliament for the area, Dr Appiah Kubi, convinced the NDC members to go out and condemn the NDC so that he would give them money”.
The statement further indicated that the MP also promised to “build a mosque and help develop the Zongo community for them if they publicly announced their defection from the NDC”.
Reacting to the NDC statement, Mr Mumuni Sumaila, who claimed to be once the NDC Chairman of the Zongo Community at New Aduampong said, “we have now come of age and will never sell our conscience to politicians who only use us to seek their political interest”.
He said a few days after they announced their defection to the NPP, Mr Opoku, together with a section of his executive rushed to their community to attempt to convince them to change their minds, “but we maintained our stand and made them aware that our decision was final and that there was no way that we would change our minds”.
He said moments after they declared their intention, some of the group assaulted them, warning that “ we would be driven away from the community if we maintained our stand”.
“We have reached a new level of our democratic landmark so politicians should not assume wrongly that they can continue to use us to perpetuate their political interest” he advised .
The Constituency Chairman of the NPP, who accompanied them to the office, assured of their safety and urged them to support the party.
“You are welcome to the party and we are ready to work with you to facilitate the return of the NPP to power so that we would initiate policies and programmes that would promote your interest”, he stressed.
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