STOP MEDIA ATTACKS! Dress Maker Urges NPP and Pleads for Sanity

Micheal Osafo Bamfo, a fashion Designer

By Duke Nii Amartey Tagoe

Micheal Osafo-Bamfo, a fashion designer has asked the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to halt the incessant attacks on constructive reportage by segments of the media.

He is alarmed by the claims of the NPP that the state media are seeking to deepen the ever widening cracks of the party.

He has also called for protest against what he calls “vicious attempts” at the coercion of the media by some “unscrupulous” elements within the country.

According to the dressmaker, the NPP whilst in power enjoyed unfettered  coverage by the Daily Graphic to the indignation of many readers yet Nana Akufo Addo and several appointees of the Kufuor administration, insisted on the right of the media to act independently.

“These attacks inform me that the claims by the NPP that it believes in the independence and freedom of the press is only a smokescreen behind which the party hides to champion its courses” he told this reporter.

Mr Osafo-Bamfo called on well meaning Ghanaians to protect the independence and sanctity of the media adding that “the media must be guarded to undertake its core mandate of holding government and opposition accountable for their actions and inaction towards national development”.

The NPP does not take kindly to a report by the Daily Graphic that on the 9^th of December 2015, a press conference organized by Attoh Quarshie an elder of the party in the Ablekuma South constituency  was violently scattered by some elements  of the NPP from the Constituency.

Eye witnesses confirmed that amidst the raids, seats and canopies were vandalized and gunshots were also heard with old men and women running for cover. There were no casualties.

Over the past few months, the headquarters of the NPP has also become the battlegrounds for competing gangs with loyalties to either Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo or the suspended chairman of the party, Paul Afoko.

Editorial

Strange Development in NPP

The suspension of Mr Kwabena Agyapong, General Secretary and Mr Sammy Crabbe, Second National Vice Chairman all of the New Patriotic Party( NPP) must be very strange.

How can the leaders of any serious party preparing to contest a major election in 10 months embark upon such a reckless path?

In any case, will the suspensions enhance the chances of the NPP in the next election?

What is even stranger is the fact that many party leaders have committed more grave offenses than those allegedly committed by Chairman Paul Afoko, Kwabena Agyapong and Sammy Crabbe.

 The angry reaction of some grassroots members of the party must be a pointer to the future. 

The NPP will soon wake up to the reality that contesting elections at reduced strength can only bring about disaster.