The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the Police in Talensi of blatant display of bias towards the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the July 7 polls in the constituency.
The NPP is claiming that the Police have reneged on an earlier agreement for the party to stage a rally in Tongo in the constituency stating that the NDC “will hold its rally in the same area on the same day.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”3rIubaCMm1RJjTbMDSMOpMzqjMmAeSVt”]The Police have since advised the NPP to “either change the location or the date proposed.”
According to the NPP, the the decision by the Police to prevent them from staging the rally in Tongo was taken as a result of an “administrative error.”
The Police also stated that President John Mahama will be present at the NDC’s rally and this, they claimed will present added security concerns.
The NPP scoffed at the reasons given by the Police stating that “they [Police] cannot reasonably say that it would be over-stretched by handling two rallies in a constituency with some 40,000 votes.”
“When they asked to see the letter, the NPP claim they were given a letter that was dated July 19 notifying the Police of their planned rally on July 5.
“How can a letter dated on a future date be received on June 19? At the same time, going through the files with the Police, we saw evidence of another letter from the NDC dated July 19 and received July 2, notifying them of the same NDC event,” the statement from the NPP added.
The party however, compromised and decided to organise their rally in the adjacent town Winkongo, a plan they claim was rejected by the Police.
“The only conclusion we can draw from this is that the Regional Police Command is not dealing with this issue based on its own professional assessment of the situation. It appears not to be in control of the situation and has, sadly, ceded its authority to be fair, just, impartial and professional to the NDC all in the Government’s desperate bid to score a propaganda victory in Talensi,” a statement from the NPP said.
“The New Patriotic Party is very much concerned about the way the Regional Police Command appears to be bending over backwards to submit to the political wishes of the ruling Party and all in clear breach of the sovereign laws of the land. It is an affront on the integrity and professionalism of the Police Service. Their loyalty is to the State, the Constitution and the sovereign people of Ghana and not to any political party,” the statement added.
The NPP warned that failure to address the ‘bias’ shown towards the NDC by the Police could result in “serious security concerns. It could most likely be worse in 2016 when stakes are much higher.”
The by-elections to vote for a new Member of Parliament for Talensi are set for July 7.
The elections became necessary following the enskinment of the former Talensi MP, Robert Nachineb Doameng as the Paramount chief of Talensi and his subsequent resignation from Parliament.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EdKwakofi