NPP Fingers Minister In Ashanti Violence

The Ashanti Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused Dr. Kwaku Agyeman Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, of instigating violence that has characterized the registration exercise in the region. The NPP consequently asked the regional minister to bow his head in shame for presiding over rot which has recently made the region notorious. At a press conference in Kumasi on Tuesday, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, F.F. Anto said the largest opposition political party was disappointed in the regional minister. They used the press conference, which was held at the NPP�s regional office at Bantama, to react to a series of attacks on NPP members by National Democratic Congress (NDC) goons in the region lately, notably the violent attack at a registration center at Kronom on Thursday. During the latest attack said to have been orchestrated by NDC machomen, a 57-year-old woman, Esther Nyarko Donkor, NPP Polling Station Organizer, Kronom SDA Church, was heckled, resulting in a fractured limb. F.F. Anto lambasted the regional minister, Dr. Agyeman Mensah for failing to stop the violence, saying such level of violence has not occurred in the region in the past. The NPP guru entreated the regional police command to embark on thorough investigation to apprehend the culprits, who attacked 57-year-old Madam Nyarko Donkor. F.F. Anto said the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye openly declared the police administration�s willingness to deal with anyone or group that would foment trouble to destroy the registration exercise �and he should prove it now.� According to the NPP chairman, the NDC goons planned to cause trouble in the Ashanti region which is the stronghold of the NPP to prevent more people from registering to cast their ballot in the upcoming elections. The NDC has realized that it would lose the general elections therefore they want to adopt violent and foul means to destroy the national process which is being financed by taxes paid by the people, he indicated. He urged NPP faithful in the region to remain calm and obey the country�s laws and avoid actions that could trigger confusion and destroy the national exercise. F.F Anto, who described the NDC as a violent political party that doesn�t value human lives, encouraged the NPP faithful to work hard to sustain the party�s track record of being democratic, peaceful and accommodative of all manner of people. The NPP chairman urged the people in the region to travel to the registration centers in their numbers and register in order to vote massively for the party to kick out the weak NDC administration, which has brought adverse hardships on the citizenry. George Ayisi Boateng, NPP Founding Member, on his part, told the police, especially the IGP �to walk his talk� and make sure that all those that have been causing trouble at registration centers were dealt with according to the law. The NPP First Vice Chairman in the region in charge of operations, Kwabena Nsenkyire criticized the Ashanti Regional Minister for failing to stop the escalating violence in the region. The Ashanti Regional Scribe of the NPP, Sam Pyne, said the party would remain resolute in the face violent attacks by the NDC, adding that such acts could not scare members of the NPP.