Alfred Adams
6 November 2008
Takoradi — A POLITICAL science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Mr. Kusi Amakye Boateng, has challenged the Minority Leader in Parliament and MP for Nadowli West, Hon. S.K. Alban Bagbin to come clean with his allegation of drug trafficking levelled against the leadership of the NPP.
According to him, the Minority leader has brought his office and the entire parliamentary Institution into very serious disrepute by descending into the gutters of dirty politics and has decided to play politics with a very important issue like drug trafficking.
The Political Science lecturer, who was commenting on the issue on a local radio station, Angel 96.1 FM's morning show in Kumasi, maintained that instead of mounting a political platform to make such wild allegations against the leadership of the NPP, the Minority leader, with all his experience in the legal field, should have done the right thing by presenting his evidence to the appropriate authorities for the necessary action to be taken, instead of trying to score cheap political points with such wild allegations.
The Minority Leader alleged last Sunday while addressing party supporters at Ho in the Volta Region that some top ranking members of the ruling party were directly involved in illicit business of drug trafficking which according to him has created insecurity and has tarnished the image of the country in international circles.
But the KNUST Political Science lecturer is questioning the basis and the credibility of the Minority leader's allegations and why he has all this while kept quiet over the issue until now.
"In fact, I am disappointed at the Minority leader because he has not set a very good example worth emulating as a leader, and also failed to serve the interest of the nation by refusing to present the evidence which he claims to possess to the appropriate agencies."
According to him, such smear campaign and dirty political propaganda do not befit a personality like Hon.Bagbin and challenged him to provide proof rather than challenging the NPP leadership to dispute his claims.
He noted that failure on his part to initiate the moves would amount to irresponsibility on the part of the Minority leader.
Contributing to the same discussion, a retired Educationist and former Headmaster of T.I Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Mr. I. K. Gyasi, also described the allegations by Hon. Bagbin as very serious and one which must be treated with all the seriousness it deserves.
According to him, the rate at which political opponents make unsubstantiated allegations has become unbearable, and the earlier they are compelled to produce concrete evidence, the better it would be for the development of the country.
Mr. Gyasi, who is also a columnist of The Chronicle, averred that the flag bearer of the NDC, Prof.Mills, made similar statement when he alleged that some NPP members had nicodemously divulged to him about plans by the NPP to rig this year's elections while the National Campaign Chairman of the NPP, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey also accuses the NDC of pursuing a power sharing agenda.
"Hon. Bagbin knows that the basic principle in law is that he who alleges ought to prove so the onus probandi now rests on the Minority leader to authenticate his allegations by coming out publicly with the necessary evidence," he asserted.
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