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Press Release
May 24, 2011
Re: NPP is behind Coup Plot against Ouattara
On Friday, May 20 2010, Koku Anyidoho, the head of the
President’s communications at the Castle, accused the New
Patriotic Party and its leadership of masterminding
publications put out by the website of the Ivorian military
group, the “New Forces” (www.fninfo.ci) and Ivorian
newspaper “Le Patriote” and subsequently quoted by two local
papers, the New Statesman and the New Crusading Guide, which
accused President J.E.A Mills of shielding, through his
alleged silence, pro-Gbagbo dissidents who are bent on
overthrowing new Ivorian President Allassane Ouattara.
The New Patriotic Party would like to state in no uncertain
terms that it is and cannot be behind these publications by
the “New Forces” and Le Patriote. It is an accusation that
only goes to expose the incompetent manner in which this
nation’s affairs are being run by President Mills and his
team. No serious presidency would have made such a wild and
unimaginative allegation against its opposition. It is a
curious allegation to have come from the man who speaks for
the President of our Republic.
Indeed, the NPP had also issued no official statement or
comment on the said publications to have warranted such a
reckless attack from the presidency.
The attempt by the Mills-Mahama administration to link the
NPP to these publications, quoted in the New Statesman and
the New Crusading Guide from reports they picked up from the
Le Patriote and the New Forces, is a desperate attempt on
the part of President Mills to, as usual, hide his
incompetence and mistakes behind the vile propaganda of
finding innocent scapegoats. No matter how far the NDC runs
it cannot hide from its broken promises, incompetence,
hypocrisy and lies.
So desperate is President Mills to save face that the
Secretary General of the United Nations has been
involuntarily exploited for this purpose, with the
state-owned Daily Graphic attributing an oddly undiplomatic
statement to Ban Ki Moon, reportedly saying “President Mills
is the best leader in Africa.” This is another reckless
expression of the Castle’s desperation by attributing false
quotes to international leaders and falsely accusing
political opponents for being the cause of their own
self-inflicted blunders.
Koku Anyidoho made those unfortunate allegations on behalf
of President Mills. This only exposes a leader who is not
humble enough to accept when the consequences of his errors
come back to haunt him. President Mills, must for a change,
show some modesty, humility and honesty in the face of
mounting evidence of his arrogance of power and arrogance of
errors in abundance.
The NDC should concentrate on undoing the fallouts from
their “Dzi Wo Fie Asem” policy, which made Ghana a laughing
stock in the international community and exposed Ghanaians
to unnecessary fury and ridicule. President Mills must
desist from any attempts to drag the NPP into this. We are
minding our business of offering a more competent, decisive,
sincere, compassionate and visionary leadership to
Ghanaians.
Is the President saying that, until the local newspapers
reproduced those worrying accusations against Ghana, he was
not aware of intelligence reports about the said
publications put out by the New Forces and Le Patriote in
Cote d'Ivoire? That would be insulting to the enterprise of
Ghana’s Research Department.
What those publications implied was the possibility of a
strong feeling in Cote d’Ivoire that some pro-Gbagbo forces
may be using Ghana as a safe haven in preparedness to
destabilise the country. Whether these intelligence reports
were true or not, President Mills owed it to our regional
security to be seen to be making proactive moves to assuage
the fears of anxious Ivorians?
It is not in the NPP’s interest that violence and civil
unrest should break out in Cote d’Ivoire. It is also not in
NPP’s interest that Ghana should look bad in the eyes of the
international community, even when our President has caused
such a major diplomatic blunder.
The decision by the UN boss to stop off in Ghana on his way
to President Ouattara’s investiture speaks volumes. It was
in recognition of the key leadership role that Ghana played
to bring peace and restore full multiparty democracy in our
neighbour-country since the 2002 civil war in Cote d’Ivoire.
It cannot be denied the role played by President Kufuor and
his three Foreign Ministers, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Nana
Akufo-Addo, and Akwasi Osei Adjei in the decade-long
international efforts to restore peace and democracy to Cote
d’Ivoire.
The NPP’s position has always been that Ghana cannot afford
to stand by and watch helplessly as Cote d’Ivoire was
plunged into another cycle of bloodshed, conflict and
instability. Conflict and instability in Cote d’Ivoire posed
a threat not only to the peace and stability of West Africa,
but also to Ghana’s national security.
On January 18 2011, the NPP stated in a press conference
that Ghana’s position in the impasse which was brewing in
Cote d’Ivoire had become an issue because President Mills
had not been straight forward as this bordered on the
critical issue of regional security.
The President, his government officials and party members
treated the Ivorian crisis like a small political quarrel
between factions in a constituency contest. Their support
for Mr Gbagbo and the use of certain newspapers and
commentators to push the pro-Gbagbo agenda are what fed the
growing perception that our President was more interested in
pushing a personal or partisan interest than the national
interest.
These sentiments were re-echoed by the UN’s Secretary
General, Ban Ki Moon, when he met President Mills in Accra,
en route to the inauguration of President Ouattara. Ban Ki
Moon’s statement was in appreciation of the historic role
Ghana, under the leadership of President J A Kufuor, has
played since 2002 in trying to bring peace to Cote d’Ivoire
and to encourage President Mills to ensure that Ghana does
not become a launching pad for any person or group of
persons to destabilise the legitimate administration of
President Ouattara.
The challenge for President Mills, at this time is to
rebuild and strengthen the diplomatic ties between our two
countries, which have over the years been based on mutual
respect and trust.
We are calling on our President to quickly muster all the
diplomatic skills he has so far shown not to have to try and
recover Ghana’s image and her endangered relations with Cote
d’Ivoire. President Ouattara and Ban Ki Moon, aware of the
geopolitical sensitivity of Ghana to efforts to consolidate
peace and democracy in Cote d’Ivoire have made very
significant, positive diplomatic gestures to President
Mills. It is up to him to respond appropriately. We hope
Ghana, under the leadership of President Mills, can be a
strong partner to Cote d'Ivoire as that country embarks on
this delicate journey towards recovery.
.......Signed.......
Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie
NPP General Secretary
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