NDC not calling for coup – Ayine

Dominic Ayine, Former Deputy Attorney General

Dominic Ayine, former Deputy Attorney General in the Mahama administration, has indicated that the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not calling for a military takeover of the government.

According to him, the NDC believes in democracy and therefore, will not subscribe to any attempt to truncate the 1992 Constitution of the Republic.

His comments follow the arrest and detention of the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Koku Anyidoho who was arrested for inciting civil insurrection against the Akufo-Addo government on a radio station.
Mr Anyidoho, who has since been granted bail, told Happy FM on Monday, 26 March that: “Somebody should tell Nana Akufo-Addo that history has a very interesting way of repeating itself.

“On January 13, 1972 a certain Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a movement that removed the Progress Party from power. Busia was the Prime Minister and Akufo-Addo’s father was a ceremonial president. Somebody should tell Nana Akufo-Addo that history has a very interesting way of repeating itself.

“There’ll be a civil revolt. There’ll be a people’s movement. During President John Mahama’s tenure didn’t we receive similar threats from the likes of Let My Vote Count and OccupyGhana.”

“There’ll be a civilian coup d’etat; there’ll be a social revolution and the movement is starting on Wednesday. He [Akufo-Addo] will be fed up at the presidency,” Mr Anyidoho said.

But commenting on this matter on TV3’s New Day programme on Saturday March 31, Mr Ayine who is also Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East said: “I don’t think Koku’s intention was to call for a military takeover of this government.”
Touching on a comment made by General Secretary of the NDC Asiedu Nketia, indicating that the party dissociates itself from Mr Anyidoho’s comment, Mr Ayine said : “The General Secretary did what I thought was right in the circumstances. The National Democratic Congress, its middle name is democratic meaning we subscribe to the principles of constitutional democracy. There is no way that the NDC will associate itself with a call for a military takeover of government.

“Koku might have crossed the line a little bit by reference to the 1972 coup, some people may interpret it to mean a signal to the military to intervene. Others simply say it is a warning to the government. In the case of the statement by Asideu Nketia dissociating the NDC from the comments I believe that his interpretation or the party’s interpretation was that this might be interpreted generally as a call to the military to takeover and we (NDC) do not want that.

“We don’t want this constitutional democracy to be truncated by another military takeover. The constitution itself provides that where such a takeover occurs civilians and every citizen of Ghana has a duty to restore the constitutional order. So we don’t want that to happen and that is why the general secretary quickly came to dissociate the party from the comment.”