I am not behind recent market fires - Ofosu Ampofo

The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has denied the allegation levelled against him as the person behind the recent fire outbreaks in some markets in parts of the country.

According to him, the NDC party that he leads does not destroy but rather builds markets to provide conducive environment for petty traders to ply their trade so as to earn money to lead decent lives.

“The biggest opposition party I am leading does not burn markets, but rather we construct markets and so if there are market fires and the police want people to interrogate, they should not come to the NDC but should rather go elsewhere to fish out for the culprits,” he said  

Commissioning

Responding publicly for the first time to his recent invitation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to assist in investigation into recent fire outbreaks in some markets during the inauguration of a new office for the Gomoa West at Gomoa Dawurampong in the Central Region last Saturday, Mr Ofosu Ampofo indicated that burning and destruction of markets was not an agenda of the NDC.  

He mentioned that it was not the culture of the NDC to engage in such acts to make the governing party unpopular but the NDC would engage in a vigorous campaign to brighten its chances of wresting power from the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP).

Read Also: Police CID invites Ofosu Ampofo over kidnappings, fire outbreaks

Police invitation

The Criminal Investigation Department on May 8, 2019 invited Mr Ofosu Ampofo, to assist in investigations into some recent kidnappings and fire outbreaks.

Refurbished office

The Gomoa West party office, which was in a deplorable state, was refurbished by Mr Richard Gyan-Mensah, an aspiring parliamentary candidate of the NDC in the constituency.

The event, which was preceded by a victory walk through the principal streets of the town, was graced by the Member of Parliament for Agona East, Mrs Queenstar Maame Pokuah Sawyerr, Deputy National Organiser, Chief Hamilton Biney, the Central Regional Organiser, Mr Mike Dery, as well as constituency executives and many party faithful.

He explained that the records of the party while in government was that, it constructed many markets and that it was not in the DNA of the NDC to encourage hooliganism and arson, saying that” any member of the NDC who decides to engage in such a despicable act would not be shielded”.

“It is totally unacceptable for the police to accuse me wrongly for hiring people with the intention of burning markets since as former District Chief Executive for Fanteakwa, former Eastern Regional, and Local Government and Rural Development Minister, I superintended the construction of many markets ” he noted.

Orchestration by detractors

He stated that the accusations were orchestrations by his detractors to paint him black due to his 30 years political experience and tarnish his image in the name of politics to score cheap political points.

“Some faceless individuals within the ruling party are bent on throwing mud at me but I can assure you that the truth will always triumph over lies” indicating that the NPP after performing abysmally so far was still peddling falsehood about the NDC.