Talensi: NDC, NPP should have been disqualified – Casley Hayford

Source: citifmonline.com  -  Anti-corruption crusader, Sydney Casley Hayford has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should have been disqualified for creating mayhem in the just ended Talensi by-election.
“The NPP and the NDC should have been disqualified. 

Both parties should have been disqualified on the grounds that they were causing fighting, that they destroyed the whole democratic procedure,” said Casley Hayford.

Supporters of both the governing NDC and the NPP engaged in bloody clashes during the polls in Talensi.

Citi News’ Upper East Regional correspondent Frederick Awuni who was at the scene said there was a “serious confrontation between NDC Azoka boys and the NPP boys in the constituency.”

Bigwigs from the NPP, Freddie Blay among others were allegedly attacked in the process.

Speaking on the development, Casley Hayford was also unhappy with the refusal by both parties to render an apology for the violence that characterised the polls.

“I have not heard either the NPP, or the NDC render an apology to the people of this country …What did they really go and do in Talensi, they went and fought.Nothing moved our democracy forward with this Talensi election. It is just a fight. They went there, they bust each other’s cars, they shot tyres, they lied to each other …and we end up with a whole bunch of lying politicians, which is all we get.”

He remarked that wranglings over who genuinely won the elections is irrelevant since “all decisions that are being made in Parliament today are totally unaffected by whoever won the Talensi by election.”

“Whether the NPP won the seat or the NDC won the seat makes no impact to what is going on in Parliament so this really has no bearing on anything.”
The National Organiser of the NDC in a sharp rebuttal however dismissed Casley Hayford’s comment, describing it as a “weird analysis”.

He clarified that the two parties “did not go to Talensi to fight and did not leave residents in Talensi divided.”

He further called on security agencies to “deal with anyone who was part of any violent activities.”