Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah[/caption] Government has shot down claims that it has bugged the offices of the National Democratic Congress to eavesdrop on the activities and conversations of party that is caught up in a leaked audio tape which has become a subject of criminal investigations. In the said audio recording, a voice said to be that of the national chairman of the NDC Samuel Ofosu Ampofo was heard raging war on the EC chairperson and threatening to kidnap family members of NPP militia groups. Among other plots, the voice was heard encouraging some communicators of the NDC to target President Nana Akufo-Addo for a smear campaign to paint him as a violent person. But the NDC issued a statement Wednesday accusing the national security and government of planting recording gadgets at its headquarters to record the said audio and doctoring same for their spiteful ends. “The maliciously depraved and clearly doctored tape has been contrived by some devious elements in the NPP and government to undermine the NDC and its National Chairman,” the party claimed in the statement. The claim by the NDC, according to the Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, is absolute false as the government does not engage in interfering in the privacy of any political party and actors or individuals and organisations in the country. “This administration does not, and has not bugged offices of political parties, its key actors, individuals or organisations for that matter,” he said Thursday at a news conference to respond to the NDC allegation. Such conduct, the minister argued, would be in clear breach of the country’s constitutional provision on privacy. Mr Oppong Nkrumah described as “distasteful” the conduct of the NDC in choosing “to bring the name of the state into disrepute”. “The practice of accusing the state and seeking to portray to the global community of democratic watchers that the state is involved in illegality, that practice is unpatriotic, and has the potential to undermine the growing respect that Ghana has for its resilient democracy,” he stated. The minister said the government does not have a policy or even as a practice, bug the offices or homes of political party and their leadership. “It is not the policy or practice of the government of Ghana to illegally interfere with the privacy or communications of persons or organisations in Ghana,” he explained. Meanwhile the Police have taken interest in the leaked audiotape recording and invited Ofosu Ampofo to assist in its investigations into it. According to the police CID, the contents of the tape have security implications, hence the invitation. The NPP which has condemned the content has also called on NDC members to demand the resignation of Mr Ampofo. By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana]]>
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