The National Peace Council (NPC) has refuted claims by the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it misled the party to withdraw its agents from the Electoral Commission’s (EC) ‘strong room’ during the collation of the 2020 presidential election results.

According to the NPC, the account of the NDC Chairman is inaccurate as a meeting between the Council and the NDC was inconclusive because its members were attacked by a mob at the party’s headquarters who fired gunshots to scare them away.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia recently attacked the integrity of members of the NPC at a meeting with some members of the party.

He asserted that the NPC’s promises to call a meeting with stakeholders to discuss the escalating tension at the time were the reason NDC agents left the EC’s “strong room,” indicating that it was not done out of their own free will.

“…So the Peace Council agreed to organise a meeting between the NDC, NPP, international delegations, and the Electoral Commission. We don’t want anything; we just wanted to check the pink sheets. So if we put the pink sheets together and they have won, we will agree,” the NDC Chairman said.

“Immediately we got this understanding and we were preparing, the NPP met Jean Mensa, and they pressured her to go and do the collation and announce. So our people did not leave there on their own. It was part of an arrangement with the National Peace Council that let us down,” he intimated.

Denial

However, the NPC indicated that Mr. Asiedu Nketia’s narrative is not accurate, pointing out that the meeting between the Council and the NDC was inconclusive because its members were attacked by a mob at the party’s headquarters, causing vehicle damage.

In a statement responding to allegations made by the NDC National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the NPC indicated, “Immediately after the members left the NDC office during the attack, they received a call from one of the party’s leading members for the members to come to the former president’s office the following day at 10am for the proposed meeting.”

According to the statement, on December 9, 2020, the NPC met with the NDC leadership at former President Mahama’s office, and while the meeting was going on smoothly, another mob invaded and disrupted the proceedings.

“After some intervention by the leadership of the NDC, the mob left the room and continued with gun shots within the compound of the office of H.E. the former President. One of the vehicles conveying members of the NPC was also damaged on leaving the former President’s office,” the statement, signed by Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi, Chairman of NPC, said.

Again, the Council refuted the claim that it had consented to summon the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the NDC, along with foreign observers, to a meeting at the Movenpick Hotel to address the NDC’s grievances regarding the collation of results.

According to the statement, on the evening of December 8, 2020, Mr. Nketia, then the General Secretary of the NDC, in a press conference called on the Peace Council to intervene in certain grievances that he had put out in the public domain.

“In response to that call, the NPC attempted severally to reach the General Secretary for a possible meeting on their grievances. When it was not possible to reach him by phone, the council moved to the NDC head office later in the night for a possible meeting with the leadership of the NDC,” the statement indicated.

It further pointed out that the NDC expressed some concerns and disagreements that they had with the election results being received at the EC strong room at the meeting and requested that the NPC should convey their concerns and disagreements to the EC.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the meeting at the office of the former President, H.E. John Mahama did not conclude with a decision or suggestion for the NPC to organise any meeting between the NDC, NPP, International Delegation and the Electoral Commission to check the pink sheets as has been purported in the news,” the statement pointed out.

It assured Ghanaians that it remains committed to its mandate, and called on all citizens and stakeholders to support the work of the council in facilitating and developing mechanisms to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts in the country.