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| NDC Pleads For Forgiveness |
1/26/2007 |
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Friday, 26 January 2007
The opposition National Democratic Congress has appealed to the Ghanaian press to forgive it for the numerous acts of aggression, repression and atrocities committed against some journalists during its rule of the country, under Jerry John Rawlings. The press, it said, should also try to forget whatever transpired during those ''dark days'' and forge a new and cordial kind of relationship with the party, which has now "realised its mistakes.”
The Western Regional Chairman of the NDC, Frank Abu, who made the appeal on behalf of the largest opposition party at a reception for journalists in the Region last Wednesday, said the party founded on the ideals and principles of Jerry John Rawlings, has ‘repented'' from those atrocities, and now sees the press in a new light as partners in development.
He said the year 2007 is not a year for criticisms, accusations and counter-accusations, but one of teamwork between the media and the NDC in order to enhance the development of the Western Region and Ghana as a whole.
According to Dr Abu, who is the former Regional Minister and a former Minister for Agriculture during the NDC era, there is the need for a cordial relationship between the party and the press; indeed the 1992 Constitution enjoins political parties, whether in Government or opposition, to work together with the Fourth Estate of the realm.
He said it was this kind of constitutional mandate of press-political party relations which has compelled the NDC to ask for forgiveness from the press for the ‘sins’ committed against a section of the media, particularly the private press. The NDC Regional Chairman noted that the press is undoubtedly a force to reckon with, adding that but for the support of the press he would not have been able to effectively perform his assignments when he was a Government official.
“The NDC, like all political parties in Ghana, would like to see the nation develop; this dream could only become a reality when past mistakes are realised and rectified,” he concluded.
Present at the reception were some of the party’s regional bigwigs including the former Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Chief Executive, Colonel Kaku Korsah (rtd) and the former Regional Minister, Esther Lily Nkansah.
The almost twenty year (P)NDC rule saw the beating up and incarceration of some prominent journalists who were very vocal about the human rights and other abuses which were perpetrated by the military junta and its metamorphosis, the NDC. These include the late Tommy Thompson of the Free Press, Kabral Blay-Amihere of the Independent and Kofi Coomson of the Ghanaian Chronicle. Others are The Insight’s Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Crusading Guide’s Kweku Baako Jnr, former Free Press editor Eben Quarcoo, as well as The Statesman’s Stanley Twum-Barima. Statesman
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