Former president Jerry John Rawlings has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of arming their supporters with guns, to cow opponents into submission and hold on to power. He also accused the party of being behind the recent violence in Gushiegu in the Northern Region which claimed three lives, and destroyed at least 27 houses. He made these accusations on his ten day campaign tour of the Volta Region, to garner support for his party ahead of the December polls. On Joy Fm’s news night his comments evoked varied responses from separate quarters, some very harsh. Aide to the former president Kofi Adams said his boss hit the nail right on the head. Asked what evidence supported the accusations by the ex- president, he said circumstances were self explanatory. He cited the recent violence in Tamale, the alleged gun shots that surrounded the recent voters registration exercise, where NPP activists were accused of masterminding the attacks, as unequivocal evidence that supported the accusations. He also made reference to comments by Moustapha Hamid a member of the NPP campaign team, and Moustapha Iddris Northern Regional Minister, that all political parties were responsible for arming their supporters as enough testimony for the accusation. He said the two were only forced to speak the truth about the NPP’s shameful act, but in doing that had to combine all the other parties to make a bad situation appear mild. He insists the NDC had nothing to do with the arming of supporters. Guess who is talking, is Nana Ohene Ntow’s response to the former president’s accusation. The NPP General Secretary said under the Rawlings regime, violence was democratised with guns given to party cadres and Para-military personnel. According to him Ghana was suffering from the effects of small arms proliferation which could largely be blamed on the activities of the ex-president. He said the NPP had not created any para-military personnel and cadres to warrant the sharing of guns. A security analyst, Dr. Kwasi Enning also described the ex-president’s comments as inciteful, subtly aimed at informing the NDC supporters to arm and defend themselves. He described the situation as unfortunate coming from an ex-president, especially when there was no evidence to bark his accusations He expressed regrets about the increasing politicisation of the gun violence which has been sparked by the arms proliferation, saying, arms had been smuggled into the country from the various borders under different regimes, and for different purposes. Author: Nathan Gadugah