Petition To The ICC On Kennedy Agyapong, Nana Addo, Jake and Others

General News of Friday, 27 April 2012Source: -- MR. LUIS MORENO-OCAMPO CHIEF PROSECUTOR INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT THE HAGUE NETHERLANDS

Dear Sir: COMMUNICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 15 OF THE ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT – INVESTIGATION OF GHANAIAN POLITICIAN & MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT KENNEDY ADJEPONG

We write as concerned citizens of Ghana and members of the Ghana Coalition for the International Criminal Court who have followed keenly the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute four Kenyan politicians for their roles in the violent clashes that ensued after disputed results in the 2007 elections in that country.

We note from your press statement of 24th January 2012 that the Court holds the view that the first acts of violence in Kenya were planned a year in advance. Your statement also appears to show that you have taken this step to prosecute the four Kenyan politicians as a way of averting future acts of electoral violence in that country.

It is therefore our understanding that your outfit is interested in taking steps to avoid the outbreak of violence which can create conditions for the commission of crimes against humanity in any other country that is a signatory to the Rome Statutes setting up the ICC.

Events in Ghana since 2009 give us cause to believe that some politicians especially within the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) are plotting to unleash Violence, War, Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing either prior to or in the event that they lose the December 2012 Ghanaian elections.

Since losing the 2008 elections, the rhetoric of the opposition NPP and its leadership has assumed very inflammatory and alarmingly belligerent tones. Both publicly and in secret, they have urged their followers to resort to violence in order to win the 2012 elections.

These developments do not augur well for the safety and security of the people of Ghana, and it is in this regard that we have taken the decision to bring to the attention of the ICC the genocidal and ‘call to kill’ comments of a leading member of the NPP and Member of Parliament, Kennedy Ohene Adjepong for investigation and action.

We will also be providing evidence to show that the statements of Mr. Adjepong calling for the ethnic cleansing of some tribes in Ghana follows a pattern set by the leadership of the NPP.

PETITION AGAINST KENNEDY OHENE ADJEPONG – NPP MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR ASSIN – NORTH CONSTITUENCY Friday April 13, 2012

The Ghana Coalition for the ICC’s petition is focused on the utterances and conduct of Kennedy Ohene Adjepong, NPP Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency in the Central Region of Ghana.

Mr. Adjepong owns a radio station, Oman 107.1 FM and television station Net2 TV, both of which are notorious for hosting persons who have a penchant to publicly insult persons who hold a different political view from the owner of the two networks.

Speaking on his radio station on Friday April 13, 2012, Mr. Kennedy Ohene Adjepong “declared war in Ghana” and challenged Ghana’s National Security Co – coordinator to arrest him if he could.

He also proceeded to incite the Akan (one of the largest ethnic groups in Ghana) population in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to attack any Ewe and Ga (two of the many ethnic groups in Ghana) person they come into contact with. In defending his call for an ethnic war, the lawmaker claimed it was because some unknown persons in Accra, the capital of Ghana, assaulted a female activist of the NPP.

Mr. Adjepong’s radio pronouncement of April 13, 2012 was in Twi, one of the dialects spoken by the Akan people of Ghana. Below is an English translation of Mr. Adjepong’s statement.

“…I want to disclose to the hearing of all that this morning, Kwabena Adjei (National Chairman of the NDC) and some NDC people have gone to Asekyere a town near Biakoye where Kwabena Adjei hails from, to announce to the people that they should register minors because they realize the biometric registration makes it difficult to register minors. At Odododiodio yesterday, some youth tied red and white bands around their heads and arms and some good for nothing police officers were following them.

As for that Police Commander in James Town he is useless but they should just wait and see what will happen in the next twenty days. President Mills hypocritically says he is God – fearing and encourages Nii Lante Vanderpuye to engage in foolish behaviour.

If they have made up their minds to destroy the process we will help them to do so. Those who are training security personnel and giving them fake Police Uniforms; I said this at Mantse Agbona that this is what the NDC was planning but I have warned them that if they bring a fake Policeman or Soldier to the election we will lynch him because we are at war. I am telling Gbevlo-Lartey (National Security Coordinator) that the war starts from now.

Yes I declare war today because if the police follow about 300 people to enter shops, beat people and take what they want and no one says anything then Ghanaians should wake up and resist. We will resist violence in Ghana. Come on! Ghanaians should wake up.

If you are an Ashanti or an Akan and anyone enters your shop, attack him with whatever object you can find. Crush his head with whatever you can lay hands on. We sit down for people to behave foolishly like that. If you say you will register minors, we will also register minors. If that is what you will do, all Gas in the Ashanti Region we will beat them and all Voltarians in the Ashanti region we will beat them. And now I declare war in this country. Gbevlo-Lartey should come and arrest me today, because nobody is super-human in Ghana.

In my constituency I have a lot of Ewes but I’m free with everybody, I call all of them in-laws so we don’t have a problem. But if that is what they will do I declare war today, reject the oppressor. If someone hits you and you find a machete butcher him. We will not sit down. Gbevlo-Lartey and IGP, if they say they will kill Akans in Ghana then all of us will die here.

Or else if you start in Accra we will start in the Ashanti Region. If you start in Ashanti Region wherever you go we will go. Then we will all die so that sheep will come and worship President Mills in Ghana.”

IT IS OUR STRONG BELIEF THAT MR. ADJEPONG’S STATEMENTS MAKE HIM LIABLE FOR PROSECUTION UNDER ARTICLE 3C OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE.

There has been a well-rounded condemnation of the lawmaker’s genocidal, intemperate and ethnocentric statements by various groupings including religious, civil society organizations, youth groups and political parties.

Prior to this incident, the same Kennedy Adjepong had a couple of months back threatened that Ghana will be like Rwanda in response to comments made by a Presidential Spokesperson that the Government of Ghana will take steps to apprehend any person or group of persons who foment trouble in the up-coming elections. Below is a transcript of Mr. Adjepong’s statements in the said interview.

“… if we don’t have peaceful elections in Ghana and Koku Anyidoho thinks that he can use the military, macho men to intimidate and rig elections, Ghana will not be like Kenya, Ghana will be like Rwanda. When you look at Nana Addo’s age and this guy, Nana Addo can be this boy’s father but because of cheap politics we do in this country he gets up and starts insulting this man for no reason. And let me tell him, he should mark it on the wall that the soldiers that he is counting on are human beings like us. We also have brothers and sisters in the Military. He is not the only one who has affiliation. I just want to assure him so please we want peace.

Nana Addo wants peace and nobody wants to fight in this country but an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If they make a mistake and try just like in 2008 when our people were conveyed to the Central Region at Kasoa, they stopped the bus beat the hell out of them. This time we will not sit down for NDC to intimidate anybody. You hit one we will hit three.

I am telling you and that is a clear message we don’t care. Let the BNI (Bureau of National Investigations) surround my house and my office today. You can’t threaten anybody in this country and now he should take a cue for Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Spain Italy.”

To aid your investigation into this matter we have attached to this petition the relevant audio clips of Mr. Adjepong and other individuals.

Also attached are press cuttings of the various statements.

Ghana is about the most stable democracy in Africa with relatively strong institutions. We have confidence in the ability of the Electoral Commission of Ghana to conduct free, fair and transparent elections in 2012.

We cannot forget however that before Ivory Coast descended into chaos, it was deemed unthinkable for such violence to break out in that country given the stability that it had enjoyed throughout the years.

There is therefore the need to avoid complacency as far as Ghana is concerned. It is true that since independence, Ghana has been an oasis of peace in the midst of a troubled region. It is nonetheless a developing nation with significant challenges.

In bringing this petition to your attention we wish to remind you of the role that public incitement of the nature catalogued above, through radio, played in the Rwandan genocide.

The prospect of violence is real especially in a situation where the country’s Judiciary appears unwilling to punish individuals who incite or engage in violence.

In light of the above, we appeal to your outfit to commence investigations into the conduct of Mr. Kennedy Adjepong with a view to bringing him to justice within the framework of International law.

It is also our view that the ICC has to adopt a more proactive posture rather than wait for crimes against humanity to be committed before bringing people to justice. We have therefore decided to outline below some earlier developments in our country, Ghana, by the leadership of the NPP. These we believe have and continue to serve as a motivation for other officials of the party to preach violence and incite ethnic sentiments.

NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO ADDO- Flagbearer and Presidential Candidate February 05, 2011

While addressing party supporters at Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana on or about 5th February 2011, the Presidential Candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo Addo, stated among many other ethno-centric declarations that, “As for the 2012 elections, all die be die”, meaning his supporters should do everything to secure victory even if it leads to death, since death is death and it doesn’t matter why or how it comes.

He also boasted at the same meeting with reference to the role of his supporters in violent confrontations during a bye?election in the Atiwa constituency of the Eastern Region. “At Atiwa we exhibited a little bit of what we are capable of.”

Below is a transcript of a voice recording of Nana Akufo Addo making these statements on that day. “…these people (NDC) have decided to intimidate us in 2012.They say we Akans are cowards, when one or two of us get hurt, we all flee. Is that so? Ok we shall see. At Atiwa we showed a little of our true colours. We all need to understand that brave and courageous men founded our Party. Those who laid the foundation for this party, which has become the biggest political movement in Ghana, were not wimps who hid under beds. The courage that we need to have means that as for the 2012 elections, all die be die. No one is more human than the other, we are all endowed with two balls in between our legs.”

November 01, 2011

Also on the 1st of November 2011, Nana Akufo Addo stated when addressing tertiary education students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi that “The NPP must win the 2012 elections at all cost”. These incendiary statements are referenced in a report compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US based think-­? tank (www.csis.org/files/publication/110623 Throup Ghana Web.pdf). It singles out Nana Akufo Addo on page 16 as one politician whose conduct gives rise for concern about possible violence in the upcoming 2012 elections.

Since Nana Akufo Addo made these statements, several leading functionaries of his party have taken a cue from him and proceeded to make equally inflammatory statements, which border on incitement of NPP supporters.

ANTHONY KARBO- National Youth Organizer of the NPP

The National Youth Organiser of the NPP, Anthony Karbo, at a Forum organized for his party’s youth in 2010 threatened that if the result of the 2012 elections is not declared in favor of the NPP, his party would turn Ghana into Afghanistan.

His exact words were “…if the NPP is not declared winners of the elections in 2012, Afghanistan.” Anthony Karbo, on the 1st of February 2012, again urged his party’s youth at another Forum organized in the Northern part of Ghana to be militant.

In subsequent interviews on radio, he urged them to crush anyone within and outside their party who stands in their way during their campaign towards the 2012 elections.Below is a transcript of Mr. Karbo’s statements.

“…in this year’s election, the youth wing of our party is going to play a major role in determining the outcome of this election. We are going to be the foot soldiers we have always been. We are going to be the leg soldiers we have always been. We are going to be the people who will canvass for votes for our flag bearer. The three Northern Regions have always been a safe haven for our colleagues or opponents on the other side and so there have been lot circumstances where our own party people have come under severe attack from our opponents on the other side.

I am sure many of those from the media will agree that since we’ve been here we have put out a very strong statement calling for our young people to be militant and fearless as we approach this election because this election is a make or break for us as a political party. We want to make history as one of the parties out of government but in four years we are back in power.”

JAKE OBETSEBI LAMPTEY National Chairman of the NPP

On Net2 TV, a television station owned by Kennedy Adjepong, Mr. Obetsebi- Lamptey who is the National Chairman of the NPP made comments to the effect that because of similarities in the ethnic composition of Ghanaians and Ivoirians, the Akans in Ghana will conduct themselves the same way that Akans in Ivory Coast did. This they will do by rising up and preventing the stealing of their birthright (political power) in the 2012 election.

SAMMY AWUKU Deputy Director of Communications-NPP

In an address to the student’s wing of the NPP in Koforidua in the early part of this year, 2012, Mr. Awuku urged them to resort to violence to ‘protect’ the ballot box during the 2012 elections. Among other exhortations, he asked them to use pestles to attack political opponents during the elections. (A pestle is a thick, long, wooden implement used by many Ghanaian homes to pound fufu, a local dish. We have attached a picture of a pestle to help you appreciate the seriousness of Mr. Awuku’s statements). We reproduce a transcript of Mr. Awuku’s statements below.

“…I want to tell the NDC something. Fortunately for them they have a helpless son of a woman, as IGP (Inspector General of Police) who with just a phone call can sack eight or four of his men. Now if it is guns that we can’t buy as for disused pestles we do not require licenses to use them.

I am not calling for arms but for a Ghanaian who is struggling to put body and soul together who goes to queue at 5am and gets to vote at 3pm, guard the ballot box till 5pm and somebody believes that the Better Ghana Agenda is not going well so they want to take the ballot box away, if the person cannot buy a gun he doesn’t require a license before smashing your mouth with a disused pestle. We the NPP we are ready for the NDC.”

We will be available to furnish your outfit with any information that you may require if it is within our means to do so.

We trust that you will act in a timely manner to avert bloodshed so that in the years to come, regret will not be expressed, as in the case of Rwanda; particularly so as the month of April marks the 18th anniversary of the unspeakable evil perpetrated against hundreds of thousands of human beings in that country.

Yours faithfully, Francis KojoArthur Eric Akomanyi Fortune Sase