Victor Smith
Members
of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council have rejected a purported apology sent
to them by Victor Smith—former Ambassador to the Czech Republic and
later the United Kingdom.
According
to the Akyem Abuakwa State Secretary, Dan Ofori-Atta, the anger of the council
is directed at the national leadership of the opposition National Democratic
Congress (NDC) and not the Okyeman caucus of the NDC as Victor Smith is seeking
to push.
Victor Smith—in a document circulating on social media
purporting to be coming from the ‘Okyeman caucus in NDC’—claims to have apologised to the Akyem Abuakwa
Traditional Council.
The Traditional Council on
Monday protested against the incessant attacks on the person of the Okyenhene
and the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional area by some people within the leadership of
the NDC, with the recent one coming from the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the
party—Kwame Zu.
Kwame
Zu, who was speaking at a protest march organised by the Coalition for National
Sovereignty, a pro-NDC pressure group, in Kumasi on Monday 16th September 2019,
had stated that until the coming into office of former President John Mahama,
the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, used to share water with animals.
This
and several other attacks made by persons within the NDC including the former
President, who described Kyebi as the headquarters of ‘galamsey’, compelled the
Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council to demonstrate against the party.
Mr.
Smith in the document circulating on social media said the leadership of the
Okyeman caucus in the NDC wishes to express our sadness about the “unfortunate
and regrettable pronouncements of one of our political party members during a
recent demonstration in Kumasi.”
This
comes after Mr. Smith had publicly accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)
of being behind the anti-NDC placards displayed during the demonstration. The
apology letter which, according to Mr. Smith, was sent via social media added
that “we would have wished that the Okyeman Council had exercised restraint in
the exercise of its traditional authority and pronouncements in order not to
exacerbate the already charged political atmosphere in the country.”
Unknown Group
But
responding to the statement, a leading member of the Okyeman Council said, “Our
response is that our anger is directed at the national leadership of the NDC,
not the Okyeman caucus of the NDC.”
He
questioned the existence of the group before the impasse began, saying “in any
case, this so-called Okyeman caucus was unknown prior to this event.”
He
said “if Kwame Zu should personally be held responsible for the scandalous
statement for the reason that he was not speaking on behalf of the party, then
the statement by this so-called caucus is needless.”
“Nananom have spoken. Our call was to the national leadership of the NDC, not the so-called caucus. Okyeman will not become an unconscious plaything in the hands of forces and caucuses who seek to rationalize incendiary and abusive ethnocentric statements,” he said.
By Nana Kwasi
