The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is pushing for the Ghanaian government to take more drastic actions against South African citizens and interest in Ghana, following the recent gruesome xenophobic attacks of foreigners-including Ghanaians-, in South Africa over what they claim is an usurping of their economy by foreign Africans.
The NPP?s Presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described the attacks in South Africa as ?shocking and ?sickening?. ?? I have learnt with utmost shock about the sickening and despicable acts of appalling brutality being perpetrated by local mobs in some parts of South Africa against immigrants, mainly black Africans and their businesses,? Nana Addo said in a statement released late last week.
Akufo Addo?s rather hasty reaction to what has been described as senseless xenophobic attacks in South Africa has inspired radical suggestion from his party members. Pressure group Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) wants the John Mahama administration should expel the South African ambassador to Ghana and key embassy staff from Ghana and also to initiate travel ban for South African government officials.
??as a show of seriousness of government, the ambassador and key essential staff should be expelled from the country. Through ECOWAS, President Mahama should push for travel ban of the Zulu king, president Zuma and his cabinet ministers, the head of the SA police and top government officials. There should an option for economic sanctions of South African business on the table,? AFAG said in a terse statement issued on Monday.
Also, an NPP Member of Parliament for Tema East Constituency, Daniel Nii Kwatei Titus-Glover wants Ghanaians to replicate moves being being made by Nigeria, Mozambique and other affected African countries which have launched reprisal actions against South African citizens in their country.
Just like Nigeria has done, Titus-Glover wants the Ghanaians to officially boycot all South Africa?s interests in Ghana. These hard-line suggestions from the NPP are coming in the heels of frantic discussions between Ghanaian and South African authorities are underway to peacefully resolve the xenophobic impasse.
Expectedly, the NPP has been criticized for jumping the gun and instigating radical actions which may further escalate the spate of xenophobic tendencies sweeping across Africa.
The NPP?s stance has been described as hypocritical given the fact that it?s history has been riddled with similar xenophobic policies. In the late 1960s the United Party (A precursor of the NPP) under the Dankwa-Busia administration became unpopular globally for initiating the infamous Alien Compliance Order that also forced African, particularly Nigerians-, out of Ghana for what the administration believed was the gradual usurping of the Ghanaian economy by these ?Aliens?.
The action earned Ghanaians living in Nigeria reprisal action that culminated into the famous ?Ghana Must Go? mantra.
In recent times, the NPP has also been in the heat of tribal and ethnocentric sentiments; from Akufo Addo?s ?Yen Akanfuo? call to action to Kennedy Agyapong?s (the NPP Member of Parliament for Assin North) call for Ga?s and Ewe;s to be attacked and more recently, tribally charged statements made by former Finance Minister under the NPP, Yaw Osafo Marfo.
Critics have wondered why the flagbearer of the party-Akufo Addo- has persistently refused to condemned these statements smacking of bigotry.
Indeed, in his much-publicized live interview with Accra-based Starr FM late last week, he refused to criticize Mr. Osafo Marfo?s controversial tribally charged sentiments, saying he saw nothing wrong with the statement.
Similarly, the South African xenophobic attacks were sparked by statements made by the infamous Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, who was widely quoted recently as saying foreigners should leave South Africa.
His comment after claiming was misunderstood has led to the bloody attacks on all black non-nationals in South Africa with several people killed.
President Zuma last week condemned the xenophobic attacks and has vowed to put an end to it but aggrieved nations, including Nigeria and Mozambique have launched retaliations against South Africans individuals and businesses in their country.
Since the murderous xenophobic attacks broke out about two weeks ago, South Africans have carried out hundreds of mob attacks on Africans from other countries, leaving several foreigners dead on the streets of major cities in South Africa.
The dead include some Ghanaians, The Republic newspaper has learnt. Unconfirmed reports indicate that about 5 Ghanaians have already been killed on the streets of South Africa in these series of mob-styled executions.
Meanwhile, Ghana?s High Commission to South Africa, Kwesi Ahwoi is frantically trying to airlift distressed Ghanaians back home from South Africa, while pressure group: Coalition for the Defence of Equal Citizenship (CODEC) plans to organize a peaceful demonstration against the attacks on foreigners in South Africa.
The group was responsible for organizing the massive demonstration to condemn the tribal bigotry statement made recently by former Finance Minister Mr. Osafo-Marfo.
Codec?s demonstration dubbed ?WE ARE DIFFERENT COLOURS, BUT ONE PEOPLE PEACEFUL MARCH? would kick off in Accra on Wednesday 22 April, 2015, stated the convener of the group Godwin Edudzi Tameklo in a statement issued on Monday.
?It is shameful that Africans who collectively contributed to the ending of the obnoxious and reprehensible apartheid regime will become the subject of these senseless racially motivated murders and attacks,? the statement read.
Source: The Republic
