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 incompetence 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

Source: Communications Directorate, NPP