Nana Goes Mad

Posted: Daily Guide |Thursday, 15 April 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The 2008 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has denied spurious allegations in a section of the media that seek to link him to a supposed attempt to prosecute Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, his main contender in the party’s flagbearership race.

Nana Addo described as baseless, allegations in yesterday’s editions of both the Insight and Enquirer newspapers which suggested that “some people from the Akufo-Addo campaign team have handed over some highly-damaging documents to the current Attorney General which may lead to the prosecution of Mr. Alan Kyerematen”.

According to him, he has no control over an NDC Attorney General who had made it a point to criminalise the administration in which he was part and parcel.

A statement issued in Accra yesterday and signed by Mustapha Hamid, Head of Communications at Nana Akufo-Addo’s office, expressed dismay at what he described as a crude attempt by some media houses and political forces to use his (Akufo-Addo’s) name in their scheme to cause division and confusion within the ranks of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

This follows a similar allegation by an Ashanti regional officer of the NPP that a potential ‘flagbearer’ had conspired with the current Attorney General to ‘engineer’ the prosecution of certain named former officials of the NPP administration.

Nana Akufo-Addo therefore noted with emphasis that nobody in his office or campaign team has any document or any other evidence to facilitate any prosecution by the Attorney General or anybody else, stressing that “this is just another baseless allegation by those who have always seen his leadership as a threat to their own selfish or sectional interest”.

The 2008 presidential candidate of the NPP insisted that he has no such influence over an NDC Attorney General, who even recently, alleged falsely that he haunted her out of office; and neither would he wish to exercise any such devilish influence.

“As a man who has spent the last 35 years fighting against all forms of injustice in Ghana and as a founding member of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo would be the first to fight against any form of political persecution,” the statement said, stressing that many of the lawyers defending the former NPP government officials are products of his law firm, Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co.

As a cabinet member of the erstwhile Kufuor-led administration, Nana Akufo-Addo is convinced that he and his colleagues served this nation to the best of their abilities, with the best of intentions and with the greatest sense of integrity and honesty.

For this reason, he noted that “if the NDC has evidence to the contrary, let them prove it but through due process” and not to engage in vile propaganda and persecution.

It noted that “as a founding member of the NPP and its first National Organiser, Nana Akufo-Addo spent time, effort and resources to help build this party from scratch and would be the last person to contribute to its dismemberment”.

Moreover, Akufo-Addo seeks to lead the NPP, as its presidential candidate to victory in 2012, the statement said, asking rhetorically, “So how could he seek the dismemberment of a party he seeks to lead to victory?”

In this regard, Nana Akufo-Addo called the attention of the rank and file of the NPP to the fact that it has always been in the interest of the NDC to sow seeds of division within the NPP since “the NDC knows that with its current rate of incompetence in managing the affairs of the state, it faces rejection in the 2012 polls and would wish to compete against a disunited NPP”.

As the NPP prepares to elect its presidential candidate on August 7, 2010, he urged each and every supporter of the party to stand firm and be guided by the paramount need to maintain the cohesion and unity of the party for the greater competition ahead in 2012.

“The good people of Ghana and the rank and file of the NPP should treat this false allegation with the contempt it deserves,” the statement emphasised.