Arresting Appiah Stadium won’t prevent NDC Communicators from exposing you: Kwesi Dawood to Nana Akuffo Addo

It seems Ghana is back to the days when GCPP’s Dan Lartey, Dzidzor Tay and many others were arrested or invited by the security agencies for criticising a sitting President. The latest is the arrest of an NDC Communicator in Kumasi, Appiah Stadium. This development did not go down well with Mr Kwesi Dawood, Central Regional Communications Officer of the NDC.

“In a democracy, Government has a sacred responsibility to protect the interest of both citizens who sing their praises and those who don’t. Ghanaians moved away from dictatorship to Democratic governance because they wanted to express themselves and live freely in their own country without fear or intimidations. Ghana has come too far to return to the ‘dark ages’ characterised by a culture of silence and reign of state terror. This is why Ghanaians across the political divide are condemning the arrest of Appiah Stadium on the orders ‘from above’ and I tell you, if it is meant to cow NDC Communicators into submission, then it has failed in advance”, the Regional Communications Officer, Mr Kwesi Dawood stated on Cape fm on Wednesday morning.

“This arrest in a rambo style also vindicates the NDC’s position that Nana Akuffo Addo is intolerant and loves impunity irrespective of what the law says. Is he trying to reintroduce the criminal libel law through backdoor means? Who in this Country doesn’t know that slander is a civil wrong which can be a basis for lawsuit? When did slander become criminal that an accused has to be chased, arrested, handcuffed and dragged from Kumasi to Accra when the accused was only exercising his democratic right to free speech? Is this not a conspicuously old fashioned way of exacting retribution and even frowns on the very values of a liberal society that the NPP preaches? Did Appiah Stadium commit any treasonable offence? Is he a dissident?”, the NDC Communicator fumed.

Imagine, Nana Akuffo Addo who touts his credentials as a lawyer and human rights activist ordering for the arrest of a political communicator who disagrees with him! Donald Trump is almost always under a barrage of disparaging remarks about him and how he run his Govt, yet no one has been criminalised for it. Is it appalling to think that proponents and beneficiaries of insults against a President and the Presidency are rather trying to bring back the dark ages through censorship of free speech? If Nana Akuffo Addo think by this move, he will be able to prevent NDC Communicators from being critical of him and his deceitful Govt just as he has succeeded in achieving with SHS heads, then he should brace himself for more criticisms.

Disrespecting the Office of the President (by extension the President) in principle is not good for any nation but has unfortunately been with us for a very long time. Interestingly, the proponents of such indecent acts are today reaping the benefits so Karma is at work. It’s about time the chain is broken at a point to allow us restore the dignity the Office of the President deserves. However, we must commend highly President Rawlings, President Mills and President Mahama for the matured manner they handled such invectives in the past from Akuffo Addo himself and his NPP who are now crying, Mr Dawood added.