NDC Group Storms Parliament

A GROUP calling itself the Coalition of Ghanaian Voters (COGVO) yesterday presented a petition to Parliament, calling for sanctions against some lawmakers who have allegedly made comments injurious to national peace. The petition, signed by two ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) surrogates, Dr. Clement Apaak and Chris A. Ackummey, indicated that the said MPs supposedly made the comments over issues relating to the case in which three members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are challenging the Electoral Commission�s declaration of John Dramani Mahama as winner of the 2012 general elections, at the Supreme Court. Members of the group, numbering about 10, submitted their petition to Deputy Majority Chief Whip Sampson Ahi after walking through the streets of Accra. In what is seen as a desperate attempt to neutralize the growing impact of advocacy group �Let My Vote Count�, which is currently alerting Ghanaians about the electoral petition at the Supreme Court, Apaak and his group claimed some MPs and their supporters were planning to destabilize the peace of country through bomb throwing. �We are worried that some citizens, including leading members of a group calling itself �Let My Vote Count�, have refused to wait for the court to pass judgment and have gone on to make disparaging and insulting remarks about the President of Ghana (calling him a thief). �Other members and associates of this group have openly threatened judges of the Supreme Court. More disturbing is the request for other members for permission from their leadership to bomb, smash cars, and to bomb schools as a way of drawing global attention to the fact that they are serious,� Apaak and Ackummey, known loyalists of NDC, alleged in their petition without mentioning names. They therefore petitioned the Speaker of Parliament to intervene by inviting those parliamentarians and leaders of �Let My Vote Count� for questioning by law enforcement institutions. The group also asked the Speaker to drag such MPs before the Privileges Committee of the House for investigation. �We also call on civil society, the clergy, National Peace Council, traditional leaders, youth groups, and organised labour to condemn all such acts of violence,� the group added. The group said it acknowledged the fact that Ghana�s constitution allowed any citizen to challenge the outcome of a presidential poll, adding it was within the rights of NPP presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, and two others to petition the highest court of the land over the 2012 presidential elections. However, Apaak and his group claimed the petition had brought tension to the country as they paraded the streets of Accra and Parliament House, saying, �We are walking to call for peace and to call for the citizenry to allow the ongoing process in court to go on.� �If democracy is to work, citizens must not only participate and exercise their rights, they must respect the law and reject violence as well as leaders who propose violence solution to disagreements,� the group stated.