Big 4 Ready For NPP Race

Published: Daily Guide 

Date:September 3, 2014

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The stage seems set for all the four flagbearer hopefuls of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to battle it out at the party’s October 18, 2014 national delegates’ congress to elect a presidential candidate for the 2016 general elections.

After the stepping down of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Essikado-Ketan, Joe Ghartey—who even though made it to the first five—the rest are girding their loins to battle it out with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who led the first round with over 81 percent of the valid votes cast during the Special Delegates’ Congress on Sunday to prune the number of aspirants from seven to five in line with the party’ Constitution.

Among the seven who contested for the first round of the game, Akufo-Addo came top with 598 votes, representing 81.81%; followed by Alan Kyerematen, who had 62 votes, representing 7.97% and then Addai-Nimoh and Joe Ghartey tied it up with 19 votes each, representing 2.97% out of 749 delegates who voted in the exercise.

Mr Osei-Ameyaw picked the last slot with 16 votes, representing 2.16%, while his colleagues Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, popularly known as Asabee, and Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, crashed out of the race with 11 votes, representing 1.76% and nine votes 1.35% respectively.

Two-time flagbearer of the NPP who is seeking re-election, Nana Akufo-Addo, his colleague flagbearer hopefuls, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, Francis Addai-Nimoh, Mampong MP, and the MP for Asuogyaman, Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, look more than ready to go the full haul of the race.

Campaign Starts

Even though three other aspirants who are challenging Nana Akufo-Addo for the NPP flagbearership slot have not indicated when they are hitting the road, the two-time flagbearer said he was starting his campaign for the October congress next week.

A statement issued from the office of Nana Akufo-Addo yesterday said he would begin the second phase of the NPP presidential primary campaign on Monday, September 8, 2014.

The statement, signed by his Spokesman, Mustapha Hamid, said “Nana Akufo-Addo will embark on a 10-day tour of the country to thank delegates for the resounding victory they gave him on Sunday, August 31, 2014.”

He would begin it from the Upper West regional capital, Wa, and proceed together with his campaign team to the Upper East regional capital, Bolgatanga, on Tuesday. He would then head for the Northern regional capital, Tamale, on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, to thank all delegates for the confidence reposed in him, and urge them to vote for him again in the October 18 presidential primary.

Showdown

Kofi Osei Ameyaw, MP for Asuogyaman in the Eastern Region, gave a tacit indication of his intention to proceed to the next stage of the contest, which he called a ‘showdown’ when he issued a statement in Accra yesterday.

“We have completed the first journey by God’s grace and just as we started, it is my prayer that the good God directs and guides us to our next destination,” he prayed.

Overtures

Some have called for the rest of the contestants to gracefully step aside for Nana to be made the standard bearer of the party, in view of the overwhelming endorsement he was given last Sunday.

Member of the Ashanti Regional Council of Elders of the party, Akenten Appiah Menka, wants the three candidates running the flagbearership race with Nana Akufo-Addo to step down.

He said that even though the three candidates—former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyerematen, Francis Addai-Nimoh and Kofi Osei Ameyaw—had made it to the top five, they should take the interest of people in the party into consideration and use their resources to support Nana Akufo-Addo.

Speaking on Tuesday on Adom FM’s ‘Dwaso Nsem’ programme, Mr Appiah Menka said any effort by the three towards rescinding their decision to go to congress on October 18, would bring the party together and promote unity.

Arguments

Others, including the only pollster who sits in the comfort of his office to make projections, Ben Ephson, and spokesman for Alan, Nana Ohene-Ntow, have sought to downplay this suggestion saying the 749 who voted in the Special Delegates’ Congress were an insignificant number to decide who leads the NPP in the 2016 general elections.

According to them, that was in view of the fact that about 145,000 delegates would vote in the actual congress slated for next month, and that the tide could turn.

“They increased the number of delegates to 145,000 because they claimed 3,000 is a smaller number. If 3,000 is not a good figure, then they cannot justify the use of 800 delegates. The 749 votes obtained by Nana Addo is even less than 1% of the 145,000. The voting must come on”, Mr Ephson said on Peace FM.

Meanwhile, many members, including chairmen and members of the party’s external branches, believe that nothing would change the pattern of voting that took place in the Special Delegates’ Congress.

In the case of Francis Addai-Nimoh, he said he was still consulting on whether to throw in the towel or not.

Mahama Swerves Anyidoho

Published in Daily Guide on February 19, 2013

 

 Helen Ntoso

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

President John Dramani Mahama yesterday named the Member of Parliament for Krachi West, Madam Helen Adwoa Ntoso as the Minister designate for the Volta Region, dashing the hopes of former Presidential Spokesperson, Koku Anyidoho, who is said to be eyeing the position following the death of the late Henry Ford Kamel.
Earlier, The Ghanaian Lens, a newspaper owned and edited by Koku Anyidoho, had created the impression that he had been penciled down for the Volta Region top position.
It even proceeded to state emphatically that the man had clinched the post.
But a statement issued in Accra yesterday and signed by the Executive Secretary to the President, Dr Raymond Atuguba said, “In accordance with Article 256 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has nominated for the consideration of Parliament, Hon. Helen Adwoa Ntoso as the Regional Minister designate for the Volta Region.”
This leaves Mr Anyidoho, who was virtually calling all the shots during the reign of the late President Mills, without any substantive portfolio in the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
He has often been spotted at the Kuku Hill office of the late President in Osu where he hangs out with other colleagues who were loyal to Mills until his untimely death last year.
As it stands now, Mr Anyidoho is only hoping and praying to catch the attention of the President with regard to the rest of his appointments, either as deputy minister or any job for the boys.
Until then, he remains a mere member of the ruling NDC.

Chiefs Paid To Visit Mahama

Published in Daily Guide on February 19, 2013

Naa Prof John Nabila-President, National House of Chiefs

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Shocking details are emerging from various chiefs’ visits to the presidency, then Osu Castle and now Flagstaff House, under the pretext of paying courtesy calls on President John Mahama.
Apart from the fact that the chiefs are invited to the seat of government to give some sort of legitimacy to Mr Mahama’s presidency, evidence gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that all the chiefs from various regional houses of chiefs that trooped to the presidency were given motivation for embarking on the trip.
DAILY GUIDE has stumbled on a copy of a letter written and signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, Rebecca Amooh-Aboagye, on behalf of the minister, addressed to all the registrars of the various regional houses of chiefs in which she asked the chiefs to present a budget for such trips.
In the said letter, which is dated January 18, 2013 and captioned ‘Courtesy Call On His Excellency John Dramani Mahama President of the Republic of Ghana’, it was stated, “You are further requested to submit a budget for the trip by 24^th January 2013 for consideration.”
This, the letter indicated, followed a request from the chiefs from the various regions to call on President Mahama to, as it were, congratulate him on assumption of office  as president of  the Republic.
The budget was expected to facilitate the visit of the chiefs who were not to be more than 15 members of the regional houses of chiefs to go and pay homage to the president whose election is being challenged in court by some members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) including its flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The most recent of such visits to the presidency was by the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, led by the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, which generated a heated debate.
This was after executives of the Eastern regional branch of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) issued a statement in which they described the visit by the traditional rulers as ‘unwarranted’ and politically motivated.
An appeal by the chiefs, who were led by Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for President Mahama to do well to accept the outcome of the petition before the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate his election, was equally rubbished by the NDC chieftains.
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that very soon, other institutions and professional groups would be lined up to congratulate the president as the chiefs have been made to do.
Some, including political analysts, have suggested that the move could be part of a grand scheme by the president and his handlers to get the chiefs and other bodies and institutions to endorse his presidency in spite of the dispute over the elections.

EC Hot!

3 Officials Arrested

Published in Daily Guide on February 18, 2013

Salamatu Usman arrested by the Police

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
It appears Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and the Electoral Commission (EC) are desperate, in a quest to gather ‘further and better particulars’ to defend the commission at the Supreme Court over the petition filed by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) challenging the outcome of the 2012 general elections.
The EC has dispatched its officials to the regions after collecting evidence from the petitioners, the three New Patriotic Party (NPP) leaders including the party’s December 2012 presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to get all unsigned documents authenticated in view of the court dispute over the December polls.
Other petitioners challenging the commission’s declaration of John Dramani Mahama as President are Nana Addo’s running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey.
But some of the secret agenda have leaked into the public domain, as some of the officials who participated in the elections have declined to sign.
There were a number of reports over the weekend of attempts by officials of the EC to get some Presiding Officers, especially in the Northern Region, to now sign ‘pink sheets’ used during the disputed elections, two months after the elections.
One such incident which got to the attention of DAILY GUIDE happened in Walewale where the Presiding Officer, a certain Abdul Basit Musah, was approached by the Returning Officer for the EC, one Richard Ayamba, to append his signature to the document.
Interestingly, the issue of unsigned pink sheets is a major part of the irregularities the NPP has complained of, and is seeking to prove that they affected the conduct and outcome of the elections and for which the Supreme Court is being asked to overturn the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as winner of the presidential elections conducted by the EC.
Abdul Basit, who manned the ‘Cotton Office’ polling station in Walewale, confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE when confronted with the information upon a tip-off that he was involved in some underhand dealings with some EC officials.
On the contrary, he narrated that he was in school last week Thursday when a visibly desperate official of the Electoral Commission, Richard Ayamba, came to him and requested that he sign an unsigned pink sheet from his polling station.
He indicated that the request by the EC official baffled him since according to him, the same man had crosschecked everything on the sheet when he submitted it on December 8 2012, after collating the figures and gave the green light for the ‘statement of polls’ and declaration of results from the polling station to be included in the results for the Walewale constituency.
Complicity
However, he declined the request on the basis that copies of the unsigned sheet had already been given to representatives of the various political parties who were present and for which reason signing the sheet could make him complicit in an attempt to cover up wrongdoing in view of the Supreme Court case.
Upon refusal, Basit claimed Mr Ayamba, the EC official, became furious and asked him whether he wanted to put them and the Electoral Commission in trouble.
Basit said he set conditions for the officer to fulfill if he indeed wanted him to append his signature to the document.
He asked the EC official to assemble all polling agents present at the polling station on the election day or at least gather representatives of the parties within the constituency before he would sign, a condition he said the official could not meet.
Apart from that, he also demanded that the EC official should retrieve all the pink sheets given to the political parties for him to sign all of them, a condition he could also not meet since according to him, the EC official said that would waste time.
This was said to have infuriated Mr Ayamba who then decided to leave. But before leaving, he allegedly told Basit that his pink sheet was the only one which was left to be signed and that six other presiding officers in the East Mamprusi district, which had the Walewale and Yagaba Kubori constituencies, had all signed theirs and these were subsequently dispatched to the EC headquarters in Accra.
Justification
The Returning Officer, Richard Ayamba, indeed confirmed approaching Abdul Basit with the said pink sheet though he saw nothing wrong with his actions.
“There is nothing fishy about it,” he told DAILY GUIDE, insisting that the forms were brought to the Regional Head Office of the EC in Tamale for him to get those who did not sign the pick sheets to append their signatures to them.
Asked why he was taking the pink sheets around for them to be signed two months after the elections, Mr Ayamba responded: “It didn’t come from me as an individual because we had handed over all the statement of polls to our officers. So it was just because I was the Returning Officer that it was brought for me from the region. I didn’t go to manufacture the pink sheets.”
But Northern Regional Director for the EC, Sylvester Kanyi did not tell whether or not he had indeed instructed Returning Officers in the region to go round and get Presiding Officers who did not sign their pink sheets to do so, when DAILY GUIDE contacted him.
He claimed to have only heard about the development on radio while in Kumasi and therefore declined to make further comments until he had been fully briefed on the matter.

Arrest Me!

-Owusu Bempah Tells Police

Published on February 1, 2013

Ernest Owusu Bempah

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Deputy Communications Director for the National Democratic Party (NDP), Ernest Owusu Bempah, has dared the police to arrest him.
It follows a supposed invitation extended to some leading members of the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) by the Madina police.
Deputy Communications Director of the opposition New Patriotic  Party (NPP), Sammi Awuku, claimed to have received a call from the Madina District Police Commander on Wednesday, asking him to come along with leading members of the group including Owusu Bempah, James Kwabena Bonfeh of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Abu Ramadan of the People’s National Convention (PNC)  and Charles Owusu of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), to answer certain questions pertaining to a rally they held over the weekend.
But speaking on Oman FM’s ‘National Agenda’ morning show yesterday, an obviously angry Owusu Bempah said, “Me as an individual, I will not go.”
“I am not going anywhere; let them come and arrest me,” he said, asking, “What have I done?”

Basis
According to him, he had not received any official invitation from the police either by phone or formal letter.
“If we are organizing a programme dubbed ‘Let My Vote Count’ and my friends invite me and my party also believes our votes are missing and I go to speak at the event on behalf of my flagbearer and my party, what has that got to do with the police?” he quizzed, insisting, “If the Madina police want to invite me, they should formally write to my flagbearer or my party general secretary and if they give the permission, I will come but now I’m not coming anywhere.”
The man nicknamed ‘Billy Goat emphasised, “I won’t go”, whilst asking rhetorically, “What I’m going to do there?”
He claimed to have only heard of the supposed invitation on radio and that nobody had sent him invitation either through the phone or an official letter, insisting, “That is not the procedure for the police to invite anybody to come.”
Owusu Bempah wondered, “What has the Madina Police got to do with it when somebody has gone to speak”, adding that even before his arrest and subsequent detention by officials of the Bureau of National Investigations last year, they called him on the phone to invite him even though he demanded an official letter before he went.

The Odds
“This time round, it’s not as if you will be sitting somewhere and somebody tells you, ‘you have been invited’ (by the police) and you get up and pick your bag and go to the Madina Police station; I don’t do my things like that so I’m not going because I don’t have an issue with anybody there,” he emphasized.
For him, these were some of the things that increased tension in the country, wondering what the police and the security agencies did when a leading member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kakra Essamuah, said on Asempa FM that he would do or support a coup d’état should the Supreme Court rule in favour of the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo in the ongoing trial.
In spite of making that treacherous statement, Owusu-Bempah said, “he (Kakra Essamuah) is walking about freely”, wondering what had also become of the infamous ‘Yaw Boateng Gyan tape’ in which the national organiser of the ruling NDC was heard hatching a plot with some party faithful of his intentions to use some NDC boys as agents of the National Security to intimidate people during the elections.
“Up till date, have you heard that any of the security agencies has invited him?” he asked, emphasizing, “As for me, I will not go and I’m saying it that if they want they should come and pick me up like a fowl.”
He stated, “We are not living in elected dictatorship; we are not living in a jungle warfare”, stressing, “We are living in a sovereign state where human right is very very important.”
“If these things continue to go on, it’s too volatile and too fragile for this country,” he noted.

Police chase Sammi Awuku, 4 others

Published in Daily Guide on January 31, 2013

Sammy Awuku

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The police at Madina have invited Deputy Communications Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sammi Awuku and others including the National Youth Organiser of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, for questioning.
The rest include the parliamentary candidate for the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in the Kintampo North constituency in the 2012 elections, James Kwabena Bomfeh, aka Kabila, with their colleagues Ernest Owusu Bempah and Charles Owusu of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and Progressive People’s Party (PPP) respectively.
Mr Awuku confirmed the invitation to DAILY GUIDE: “I received a call from the Madina Police division; the district police commander who said he was calling to invite me for an interaction and questioning concerning the ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance’ that was launched over the weekend at Dome-Kwabenya, Taifa-Norway park. ”
“He said he wants to know what it’s all about, he also wants to know our intentions, he also wants to know why we had the rally,” he noted.
Originally, they were supposed to have reported yesterday morning but Mr Awuku indicated to the Madina district commander it was not possible for him to make it to the station since he had other engagements for which reason the meeting was rescheduled for 10:00 a.m. this morning. But at press time DAILY GUIDE learnt that Monday has been fixed for the meeting.
The NPP man narrated “he also enquired about the organizers and the conveners” but said “I told him I was a speaker at the event. Nonetheless, I know that the ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance’ was not a secret cult so I will also reach out to the organizers and we will have a date with him tomorrow” (being today).
Mr. Awuku said he has since informed the aforementioned individuals who are equally wanted by the police for questioning.
The group, according to Mr. Awuku, has since informed their lawyers and would meet the police on Monday.
However, an obviously bemused Sammi Awuku told DAILY GUIDE “I think that there is so much tension in the system; any attempt by the security agencies and the government of the day to cow people into submission, to victimize people going about their legitimate duties and so on will also serve as a trigger to  the tension in the system.”
In view of this, he said “I’m only cautioning the government and also the security agencies to be very level-headed in these matters.”
Sabotage
A statement issued by the ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance’ (LMVCA) yesterday asked the police and government to stay off their backs.
The statement which was signed by leading members of the group including David Asante, James Kwabena Bomfeh, Charles Owusu, Abu Ramadan, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe and Maame Afua Akoto said they were aware of a deliberate plan by the National Security and the National Communications Authority (NCA) to sabotage one of their major partners and one of the most popular radio stations in the country, Oman FM.
This, they said, was in view of the fact that the frequency of Oman FM has been interrupted since the launch of the Alliance last Sunday.
Government Antics
“Information that we have picked up from sources close to the system suggests that the National Security and National Communications Authority are behind this apparent, deliberate act of sabotage,” the group alleged.
They claimed to have picked up signals that suggested the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the National Security apparatus were uncomfortable with their activities and operations and were therefore determined to use any means necessary to destroy it.
Leadership of the LMVCA however reminded the two government institutions that “Ghana is not a police state and that the right to assemble, the right to free speech are entrenched provisions in Ghana’s Constitution and we would not allow any person or organisation to take this right away,” whilst indicating their commitment to a peaceful, non-violent expression of concerns.
That notwithstanding, they noted “no amount of state-sponsored intimidation and harassment can stop us” and consequently reminded President John Dramani Mahama, whom they referred to as ‘disputed President’ that “he would not succeed in bullying his way to hold on to power” insisting “not even the KGB tactics and police brutalities of the Ukrainian authorities could stop the masses from protesting and the Supreme Court from ruling that their presidential election was rigged.”
This, the statement said, was because “if such state-sponsored act of terrorism could work against the tide of democracy in former communist state, Ukraine, then it certainly wouldn’t work in Ghana here.”
The group has since asked President Mahama to, as it were, “pull back from turning Ghana into a police state in this period before the Supreme Court ruling” and urged him to bring a stop to these deliberate acts of interference with the operations of Oman FM.

Martin Amidu arrested?

Published in Daily Guide on January 31, 2013

Martin A.B.K Amidu

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE suggests former Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the Mills regime, Martin Alamisi Benz Kaiser Amidu, was picked up by security agents before the 2012 general elections.
A source at the National Security said he was picked up from his home by agents of the National Security a week or so before the election to an unknown destination to prevent him from dropping bombshells.
He was subsequently alleged to have been kept incommunicado for a couple of days until after the elections.
Martin Amidu himself was tight-lipped on the issue when DAILY GUIDE reached him on phone on Tuesday to verify the story, but he declined to make any comment.
“I don’t want to make any comment about that,” he said.
Indications were that no charges were brought against him.
Mr Amidu had been leading a crusade to stamp out corruption in the current NDC administration, especially payments of questionable judgment debts to people close to the government including Alfred Agbesi Woyome, who walked away with GHC51.2million without any contract.
He was determined to retrieve the Woyome payout before he was sacked from government.
It would be recalled that Mr. Amidu made allegations to the effect that the late President John Evans Atta Mills had set up a Committee of Enquiry to investigate the acquisition of aircraft for the Armed Forces negotiated by the then Vice President and now President John Dramani Mahama.
Members of the supposed committee were said to include Interior Minister William Aboah, George Amoah and Brig. Gen. Allotey (Rtd), and they were to investigate the processes of the acquisition of the five aircraft, including the infamous Embraer 190 aircraft and hangar for the Ghana Armed Forces from Brazil.
Although President Mahama never responded to the allegation, it was believed that was one of the reasons Mr Amidu was detained.
Apart from that, the source told DAILY GUIDE the no-nonsense former Attorney-General, who was relieved of his post for obviously opening his mouth too-wide in an attempt to expose corruption in the Mills/Mahama administration, was thought to be having some delicate information which if released, would affect the chances of Mahama, who was the Presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the party in that election.
The government, as it were, thought it wise to put the man who prides himself as ‘citizen vigilante’ into the cooler to prevent him from making explosive statements about the party before the elections.
Interestingly, the supposed committee tasked to investigate the acquisition of aircraft for the Armed Forces was said to have neither sat nor written a report before the demise of the late president.
In one of his several epistles, Mr. Amidu stated that “pressure groups never allowed the Committee to take off.
But the very fact that the late President Mills contemplated this Committee meant that he was uncomfortable with and suspicious of the alleged inflated prices of the aircraft.”

I’ll Win Case: Woyome Bluffs

Published in Daily Guide on January 18, 2013

Alfred Agbesi Woyome

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Businessman and self-acclaimed financial engineer, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, is brimming with overwhelming confidence that he will win the case in which he is facing charges of allegedly defrauding the State to the tune of GHC51.2million in the name of judgment debt.
In a press release/new year message captioned, ‘A note of appreciation’ widely publicized in most pro-NDC tabloids yesterday, Woyome strongly stated, “I believe that in the soonest possible time, I shall be vindicated.
“In as much as we cannot determine the pace at which the ongoing proceedings in court [relating to the Judgment Debt paid to my good self] shall proceed, the last couple of sittings have begun to reveal the truth about this whole affair,” he confidently said.
What is however not certain is what has given Mr. Woyome this new sense of optimism, believing he can win the case.
This is in view of the fact that he has personally admitted not having a binding contract with government, but yet went ahead to demand a default judgment for a supposed breach of a non existing contract, walking away with GHC51.2million.
However, analysts believe that the appointment as First Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Ebo Barton Odro, former deputy Attorney General, who virtually said the prosecution of Woyome was a wild goose chase because the State had no case in the judgment debt payment saga, might have bolstered his confidence level.
That, in addition to the non availability of witnesses to support Woyome’s prosecution, has given the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier the hope of escaping the long arm of the law.
Woyome openly admitted, “Indeed, the past year, 2012, has been a most difficult year for me, for my businesses, and for the thousands of Ghanaians who are dependent upon my industry for their livelihood.”
Seeks God’s Face
But the onetime financier of the ruling NDC, who threatened to expose government officials who had remote or direct connection to the case, said, “I know that, in the final analysis, that which my enemies and detractors meant for evil shall work out for our good and we shall have cause to celebrate a wonderful victory, by the power of God.”
He therefore urged all his supporters and well-wishers to remain steadfast, stressing his belief in the rule of law and the fairness of the almighty God.
Optimistic about the opportunities the year 2013 is set to present him and humankind, Mr Woyome expressed his heartfelt appreciation to all who continue to support him throughout what he described as “the ordeal visited upon me by certain individuals, using some arms of the State’s security apparatus”, insisting that “what started in the last quarter of 2011 has been stretched beyond the boundaries of reason”.
For the mercies of God, he said, “I, my household and all the afore-mentioned dependants [both direct and indirect] have not been consumed.”
He noted, “I, therefore, render thanks, first, to the Almighty God whose I am and whom I serve, for his care and consummate benevolence to me” whilst expressing profound gratitude to all the religious leaders who continue praying with him and assuring him of God’s vindication in due season.
“I appreciate the love shown by several traditional rulers from all over the country. Several Ghanaians from all walks of life, from all tribes, from every creed and from diverse political persuasions have consistently shown their concern for the obvious cruelty being meted out to me: to all of you, I say a big ‘thank you”, he stated while signing off.
Woyome has been upbeat about winning the controversial case since the NDC was declared winners in the 2012 general elections.
He has even publicly stated his opinion on who should serve in the government of President Mahama and who should be shown the exit.
He was recently given a red carpet treatment when President Mahama delivered the State of the Nation address.

Blows Over IGP

Published in Daily Guide on January 16, 2013

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

A meeting of the Management Board of the Police Administration at the headquarters took a nasty turn last Wednesday when Commissioner of Police (COP) Rose Atinga Bio, in charge of Administration, was alleged to have engaged in verbal exchanges with the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Mohammed Alhassan, following a misunderstanding.
At the centre of the undercurrent to the present tension in the service is the jostling for the position of the next Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Sources said it was a normal meeting of the top echelon of the service where the agenda included the issue of promotions and transfers which the IGP, Paul Tawiah Quaye, had ordered, his last major assignment prior to retirement.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that DIG Alhassan sought to exert his authority as Chairman of the management meeting (formerly known as Headquarters Management Board) by pulling a brake on the promotions and transfers.
But Rose Bio Atinga was said to have refused to submit to the authority of the DIG, pointing out that the will of the IGP be done, since according to her, he (Alhassan) was the head of the police, but she was in charge of Administration in the service.
Matters were said to have got to a head when Rose Bio allegedly demanded possession of the file containing the list of the affected officers.
A message about the development was said to have been transmitted to the seat of government, the Osu Castle, where a directive was issued asking that any such transfers and promotions be suspended until the appointment of a substantive Interior Minister.
Next IGP
Behind this acrimony among the top brass of the police is the race for the IGP post.
There is intense lobbying in the Police with even Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) declaring their interest for consideration.
Some COPs are highly qualified for the top job but they are seen as politically incorrect, leaving the turf for Rose Bio, Alhassan and John Kudalor.
Some of these ACPs are said to be saying that there was no sense in appointing Commissioners who have barely a year to leave the Service to the position of IGP when most of them (ACPs) have more years to serve.
Deputy Chief Constable Mohammed Alhassan admitted there was a meeting but he denied the misunderstanding between him and Rose Bio Atinga when DAILY GUIDE contacted him yesterday.
“It is not the way they are putting it; of course we share ideas, it’s an open forum, there can’t be any misunderstanding,” he told DAILY GUIDE.
“We want the best ideas out that’s all. We may agree and not agree on issues but that does not mean there can’t be any misunderstanding.”
Meanwhile, COP John Kudalor appears to be the favourite for the post of IGP.
For those who have noticed the inclination of government towards the man who has been in charge of the police, especially during the elections, they have wondered why DIG Mohammed Alhassan is being marginalized.
Mr Alhassan, the most experienced and senior officer after the retiring IGP, having held critical police positions at the United Nations (UN), has a year more to leave the Service, a fact which does not preclude him from being appointed chief constable.
There is however a precedent in the police service as in the case of former IGP Ernest Owusu Poku’s appointment in the year 2001 when the NPP assumed political power.
Though the man had less than a year to go on retirement, then President John Kufuor appointed him acting IGP, a position he held until his time was up.
Nana Owusu Nsiah took over the mantle thereafter till he retired in the year 2005 followed by Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong and Elizabeth Robertson Mills.
With the name of Mr Kudalor now flying high in government circles as likely IGP, the hopes of Rose Bio Atinga, in becoming the next IGP after the incumbent, appears to be dashed.
She therefore seems to have given up any hope of winning the favour of the authorities.
Convention
The Ghana Police Service has become a hotbed of politically-propelled promotions and postings to special units with the present developments not being an exception.
With the recent directive that all transfers be stopped forthwith until a new and substantive Interior Minister is appointed, the suggestion is that the President is intent on following such movements and even elevations with all his heart.
Even the admission of eligible persons into the Police College has been suspended, a development which could mean that for some, they have to lobby more to be given the nod.
During the last intake, some persons had their names dropped even after passing the entrance exams, a situation which prompted grumbling and frustration amongst police officers.
It is therefore a widely held belief that whoever wears the cap of IGP would either live with the many anomalies in the Service or attempt to reverse the order and incur the wrath of his political masters.
Even recruitment into the Service has been stained with instances of malfeasance.
Not too long ago, some police officers were arrested at the Police Hospital undertaking recruitment under the cover of darkness.
Virtually nothing has since been heard of what happened to the case with details being kept under wraps.

NPP Man Stabbed

Published in Daily Guide on December 14, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

A supporter of the opposition New Patriotic Party who had been stabbed while en routr to an NPP rally protesting election results, is carried by another man to get medical help, in Accra, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Ghana’s opposition party said they plan to contest the results of the election, ignoring the appeals of the international community, which fears that a protracted political fight could destabilize one of the only established democracies in the Africa. (AP Photo/Christian Thompson)

A supporter of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was stabbed on Tuesday at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle by a man believed to be an activist of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Media reports including that of Joy FM had rather indicated that the victim was a supporter of the governing NDC.
However, DAILY GUIDE investigations showed that the victim, whose name was not immediately known, was an NPP member attending a rally organized by the opposition party at the Obra Spot at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra.
Accra-based Joy FM claimed “a man said to be wearing a National Democratic Congress T-Shirt was stabbed Tuesday, at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle by some persons said to be irate New Patriotic Party supporters.”
The story was said to have been confirmed by Greater Accra regional Police Commander, Commissioner of Police (COP) Patrick Timbilla.
This was when hordes of NPP supporters poured onto the streets of Accra to protest the Electoral Commission (EC’s) declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as winner of the just-ended Presidential election on Sunday.
The incident happened on the main Nkrumah Circle overhead bridge.
But eyewitnesses at the scene including a photographer with the American wire service, Associated Press (AP), Christian Thompson, indeed confirmed to DAILY GUIDE that it was rather a supporter of the of the main opposition party, the NPP, who was  yet to be identified, that was stabbed allegedly by an NDC faithful.
Though he could not tell what might have prompted the action, he was certain that the one stabbed was an NPP supporter since he was clad in the red, white and blue traditional colours of the party with an NPP flag tied to his wrist, whilst his assailant fled the scene.
This was evident in a picture of the event posted on the website of AP on the link: www.apimages.com/ghana elections2012, which was captioned: “a supporter of the opposition New Patriotic Party who had been stabbed while en route to an NPP rally protesting election results, is carried by another man to get medical help, in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012.”
Though Christopher was said to have personally called into Joy FM to correct the anomaly the very day it posted the story on its website www.myjoyonline.com, because he witnessed the incident himself, his call seemed to have fallen on deaf ears since the story remained the same on the news site till date.
A member of the Young Patriots, Richard Kwasi Nyamah, told DAILY GUIDE yesterday, “This publication is an attempt to tarnish the image of the NPP and portray us as violent”, insisting, “The stabbing incident that took place was on an NPP supporter by an unidentified person who fled after the incident.”
According to him, the blood-stained t-shirt which was worn by the victim was even shown to the crowd and they subsequently informed the police about the incident.
He had since demanded a correction to the said story since according to him, “the NPP is a law abiding party that will not do anything to jeopardize the peace of Ghana.”
He noted, “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has consistently advised the rank and file of the party to remain patient but resolute” and “has admonished us not to resort to violence and to trust the party leadership to use due process to address our concerns”.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Tony Aidoo Grabs Castle Car For ¢6,200

Published in Daily Guide on November 14, 2012

Sammy Awuku and Tony Aidoo

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The Head of the Monitoring and Policy Evaluation unit at the Presidency, Dr. Tony Aidoo, is said to be a major beneficiary of a government largesse, having grabbed a state-owned Ford Expedition vehicle for a paltry sum of GH¢6, 200.
The 4×4 vehicle, a 2005 model, was one of the several vehicles used by the previous Kufuor administration as part of the presidential fleet and estimated to cost not less than US$40,000 (GH¢80, 000).
Sammy Awuku described the transaction as ‘evil’ but did not trust that President Mahama would correct the ill.
“This is really evil, this is really criminal, this is very unethical, this is naked robbery and this is very Machiavellian,” Awuku parodied Pastor Mensa Otabil.
He insisted that this incident typified the corruption under the Mahama administration and urged all to be “vigilant across the borders, the DVLA and other agencies of state where these looting brigade and babies with sharp teeth will seek to transfer our stolen assets into their names”.
Tony Aidoo has however defended himself, claiming that he grabbed the car which did not have a gear box after it had been abandoned by the Kufuor government.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, Deputy Communications Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Sammy Awuku, who spoke on the ‘The People Must Know’ platform, provided evidence to support his claim.
These included an official receipt issued by a company (Shargraw Ventures) contracted by the state to auction the vehicle and a letter dated June 1, 2012 which was written and signed by Dr. Tony Aidoo to the Director of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) requesting a change of the vehicle’s registration number to a private one.
A similar acquisition of a state-of-the-art BMW in the year 1999/2000 by Dr. Aidoo triggered a debate over the paltry GH¢200 he paid for it.
Sammy Awuku and his colleagues found it intriguing that Dr. Tony Aidoo, who is often critical of his opponents, would purchase a state car at such a ridiculously low price.
He also cited how vociferous Dr Aidoo was in the year 2009 when appointees of the former NPP administration were said to have purchased their official saloon cars when they were leaving office.
Although the purchase was legitimate within the confines of age-old regulations, Sammy Awuku indicated that “Tony Aidoo was loudest in branding appointees of the NPP as nation wreckers.”
He also noted, “The age-old policy prohibits purchasing 4×4 vehicles.”
Surprised as he was, the NPP kingpin stated, “If a Ford Expedition vehicle with impeccable servicing history and part of President Kufour’s fleet of cars as a President could be sold for a paltry sum of GH¢ 6,200, then only God knows how much they have sold other state assets to themselves for.”
Sammy Awuku could not trust President Mahama’s ability to reprimand Dr Aidoo since “for a vice president whose boss (President Mills) constituted a committee to investigate his (President Mahama’s) involvement in inflating the prices of airplanes for the Ghana Armed Forces, we wonder if President Mahama has the moral high ground to do so.”
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Dr Aidoo said, “When you abandon a vehicle for about six years, standing at a private workshop and the vehicle is unserviceable and the vehicle is being sold to members of the public, a boarded vehicle, how many 4x4s do government departments auction?
“This is not a matter of my duty car being sold to me and then you will say it’s a 4×4 so you are not supposed to; people should get their facts right.”
On the issue about the cheap price at which he bought the vehicle, he said, “Well, if it’s peanut, you go and tell the auctioneer, when you have a car without a gear box”, insisting, “I didn’t do the valuation.”
He asked rhetorically, “When you have a car without a functional air condition unit, how much would you sell it, aside body works?
“It was even he (the auctioneer) who got me a mechanic; I had to import the gear box part from the United States of America for which there is also documentary evidence.”

NDC Dashes Cars, Cash To Imams, Chiefs, Students

Published in Daily Guide on November 14, 2012

One of the Landcruisers given to the Imams and NDC branded Hyundai i10, popularly called Atta Cambu, given to the students

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is determined to retain power in the next general elections as it splurges on a number of voters to influence the polls.
The party (and government) has allegedly resorted to various means of winning votes. It has started giving out money and cars to woo potential voters aside the massive outdoor and media advertisement.
Prior to yesterday’s presentation of 12 brand new Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles to the presidents of the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs by President John Mahama, tongues have been wagging about the several brand new cars including 4×4 cross country and pick-up vans being given to other chiefs.
Doling out of the freebies has caught the attention of influential members of the public including former president John Kufuor. “They are giving chiefs four-wheel drives and giving motorbikes to young men in return for their votes,” he told a gathering of Muslim chiefs last Friday in Kumasi.
Most of the beneficial chiefs are in the northern part of the country where the president has been campaigning for votes.
The vehicles for chiefs are estimated to cost not less than $80,000 (GH¢160, 000, the equivalent of ¢1.6 billion) each.
Leading members of the party and their agents, including some journalists, have been going round the country giving free cars and cash to opinion leaders to enable them to influence their followers to vote for the party.
Some top pastors of the Christian faith and Muslim clerics have also benefitted from the NDC vote-buying largesse.
Leading Imams were recently given brand new Toyota Land Cruisers to their amazement, with one of them refusing to use the car because he considered it as a form of bribery.
Pastors Fly To Jerusalem
Some high-profile pastors were sent on an all expenses-paid pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with as much as $10,000 paid to them as pocket money to pray for the NDC’s victory.
It started when some of these pastors, whose names are being withheld for now, were given brand new Toyota Land Cruisers as birthday gifts under the late President Atta Mills.
In the recent Muslim Hajj to Mecca, over half of the 6000 pilgrims were paid for by the state under the guise of ‘protocol’ allocation.
Not too long ago, the party rolled out a new vote-buying strategy with an invasion of the campuses of tertiary institutions, especially universities and polytechnics, baiting students with what is termed ‘Atta Camboo,’ brand new Hyundai i10 saloon cars. with some branded in NDC colours, with the University of Ghana, Legon becoming the school with the largest group of beneficiaries.
Adjoining hostels to the university are also donning the Atta Camboo cars from which some journalists have also benefitted.
A similar activity is going at the Dansoman campus of the Methodist University where executives of the students’ wing of the NDC, Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), have allegedly received some of these brand new cars.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that all universities across the country have been invaded with the Atta Camboo cars.
Another intensive campaign has also started in various senior high schools with the sharing of GH¢50.00 concealed in neatly designed white envelopes, with a brochure of President John Mahama included.
The brochure, which bears the portrait of John in a red Lacoste shirt with the inscription ‘working for you’, is added to the GH¢50 and a message “dear student, compliments from President John Mahama. Thanks for making your parents and the nation proud. President Mahama asks for your vote. Vote Mahama 2012”, with a monogrammed pen included.
The party is also giving out vehicles and cash including 4×4 and Toyata Hilux pick-ups to a selected number of chiefs, mostly in the Northern regions.
This nearly resulted in confusion not too long ago when some of the chiefs protested against the kind of cars they were given in view of the fact that whilst some of the chiefs were seen driving brand new vehicles, others received used confiscated vehicles.
They therefore felt looked-down upon and raised issues with it.
Some have also been given houses at prime areas including East Legon and within other gated communities.
Opinion leaders therefore raised eyebrows about the source of funding for these profligate and opulent cars and money-sharing enterprise among potential voters, coupled with the mounting of gigantic billboards of President John Mahama across the length and breadth of the country, one of which is estimated to cost not less than GH¢10,000.
Members of the ruling party are said to be going to villages with brochures of President Mahama, with the claim that President Mahama was the one promising free education when voted for, despite the party’s open opposition to the free SHS policy.

Stop My Voice – Otabil

Published in Daily Guide on November 14, 2012

Pastor Mensa Otabil

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The head pastor of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr Mensa Otabil, who has become the centre of a raging controversy over audio recordings he claims to have been pieced together, has asked those behind it to cease playing it as an advert.
This was a day after the celebrated man of God held a press conference at which he made an appeal to President John Mahama to call his boys behind the tape to order.
A group within the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) that identifies itself as the  ‘Education Watch’ has used the said audio for an advert which is being aired on various radio stations in an attempt to ridicule the opposition New Patriotic Party’s ‘free SHS’ campaign promise.
But senior associate pastor at ICGC, Reverend Kofi Okyere, who spoke on Accra-based Citi FM, said, “He (referring to Dr Otabil) doesn’t want his voice being used like that so we are asking them to stop it.”
That, according to him, was in view of the fact that “they are using Doc’s voice without permission”.
“They are making it seem that he (Otabil) has no integrity and is a coward. That is not fair. Just stop using it.
“It’s not fair. The fact that he has produced an album and it is being sold on the market doesn’t mean anyone can use it anyhow. We think they are not using it well and should quit it,” he advised, warning that “If they don’t want to stop, it’s up to them. They can do whatever they want. We will not take it to court. We leave it to God.”
NDC’s No Holds Barred
But President Mahama and the NDC insist on using the tape because they believe the contents are relevant to issues of the day.
A statement issued by the president’s campaign team and signed by its communications director, Hannah Tetteh, sought to justify the use of the tape.
The likes of NDC propaganda secretary Richard Quashigah, deputy Finance Minister Fifi Kwetey, and an endless list of party spokespersons have sought to denigrate the revered man of God, with some using intemperate language to express their sentiments.
The Director of Monitoring and Policy Evaluation at the Presidency, Dr Tony Aidoo, believed Pastor Otabil did not have integrity. The former University of Cape Coast Economics lecturer described the preacher’s thoughts on theology as “metaphysics nonsense” which, he claimed, had lost contemporary relevance.
Dr Aidoo, a former deputy Defence minister, said, “The press conference today shows an extreme case of behavioural inconsistency to be exhibited by a man who presents himself or rather misrepresents himself as a man of God, as somebody who has the knowledge and the vision and has been preaching over the years and more or less become an opinion leader for a large section of the population.
“Nobody asked him to come and present himself and his image to Ghanaians as a man of wisdom. If you have done that, you will have no private ownership of the things you have said.”
He added, “I don’t think he has integrity.”
When he was asked whether or not the NDC would stop playing the tapes, Dr. Aidoo, who abandoned the academia for the world of politics, said, “I am not in charge of the NDC campaign, but if I was, I would play it day and night, 24 hours for Pastor Mensa Otabil to live with his conscience. He said we should have the courage to tell the truth. The test is on him. Let him tell the truth and stop running away.”
Copyright
Ace Anan Ankomah, a lawyer, however believed the decision of the NDC to use Dr Otabil’s voice was a breach of the nation’s copyright laws.
“Those who are using his voice in adverts are in breach of the law. Maybe, you didn’t know, but it has been pointed out to you now that the advert you are carrying with his (Otabil’s) voice is a breach of the law. Just stop it and let’s continue with the politics and leave this out,” he noted.
He quoted sections of the Copyright Act, Act 690, insisting, “In section 1, it mentions works eligible for copyright. It mentions literary works are eligible for copyright. If you go to section 76, it specifically mentions sermons” and that “section 76 under the definition of literary works, it lists lectures, addresses or sermons”.
“Everyone who gives a lecture, an address or sermon, is entitled to copyright protection and so, yes, Otabil has copyright protection.
“You can’t take anyone’s works and simply use it because you claim (he hasn’t] registered it,” he emphasised.
Mr Ankomah, a former lecturer in civil procedure at the Ghana School of Law, indicated, “…he has a right to be protected against distortions, mutilations and other modifications of his work if it is prejudicial to his reputation or the work is discredited by the act” and “has the right to protest against distortions and that is what he (Pastor Otabil) is talking about that various words and sentences have been put together for a certain purpose.”

NPP Blasts Mahama Over Tribal Comments

Published in Daily Guide on November 12, 2012

 

Samuel Abu Jinapor

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned recent ethnocentric comments made by President John Dramani Mahama in a bid to get votes.
Mr Mahama was quoted to have told a rally at Zualerigu in the Upper East Region over the weekend that “our brother Aliu Mahama was vice president for eight years. I was vice president for three-and-a-half years. For almost 12 years, we have tasted vice presidency.
It’s no longer exciting. It’s no longer what we want. If NPP think they want vote from here, they should put my brother Bawumia in number one and let the two of us contest and then they will get something from here. The vice president we chop it aaaah, we are tired.”
These comments of the president has made him the hottest man in the country today, after his campaign coordinator and Deputy Minister of Local Government Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, recently threw caution to the wind and likened the NPP’s promise to provide ‘free SHS’ to the collapsed Melcom building virtually every Ghanaian was grieving over.
The NPP believed that “this is a very reckless statement, which may even be interpreted to mean that he spent his first three years or so at the Castle desperately looking for the opportunity to take President John Atta Mills’ seat”.
At a press conference in the Ashanti regional capital of Kumasi yesterday, a member of the party’s campaign, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor said, “This is a clear sign that the President has lost the battle on issues and is now resorting to fanning ethnocentrism in this country”, insisting that “this is a very dangerous and irresponsible way to rule a nation as rich and peaceful in its diversity as Ghana is.”
On November 1, 2012, the President made a similar comment whilst addressing the chiefs and people of Nankpanduri in the Northern Region, with a call on all ‘Northerners’ to give their backing to him so he could ascend the seat and make them ‘proud’.
According to Abu Jinapor, “That is the most insulting thing a leader can say to his people” in view of the fact that the President did not ask the people to because of what he could do to improve their lives but because of where he comes from.”
That, according to him, was because President Mahama and his ruling NDC had nothing to show for their four-year mandate given them by Ghanaians.
Treachery
He emphasised, “We cannot go down this dangerous path and wish to make it plain to President Mahama that if he has nothing better to offer to Ghanaians, at least, he shouldn’t destroy what he inherited, a nation with a long and proud history of multi-ethnic harmony.” He asked “…should other people also say that Southerners should also vote for Nana Akufo-Addo or any other candidate from the South?”
That, he said was because “Ghana has come a long way for her to be divided by myopic, visionless, petty-minded, and self-seeking politicians in the mould of President Mahama, who is desperate for power” and that “Ghana deserves better than the politics President Mahama is pursuing”.
Mr Jinapor believed that President Mahama and the ruling NDC had nothing to offer Ghanaians since “the President is recklessly driving Ghana back onto the road now abandoned by countries like Rwanda and Kenya, the dangerous road of tribal politics and we the young people of Ghana are cautioning him to stop this useless tribal politics” which he described as cheap, unhealthy and dangerous.
He noted, “No amount of useless emotional blackmailing would divert the attention of the people of this country from the failures of this NDC government.”
“With very little to show for the three-and-a-half years that he was in charge of the Economic Management Team as Vice President and subsequently as President, due to the unfortunate death of the elected President, the late JEA Mills, our caretaker President, John Dramani Mahama, has decided to put substance aside and concentrate on petty and divisive politics,” he said.
However, reacting to the anger that has greeted the president’s comments, Hannah Tetteh, Director of Communications for John Mahama Campaign, said the comments were directed at a particular group the president was interacting with.

Apply To Join NDC. Mosquito Tells JJ

Published in Daily Guide on November 9, 2012

Jerry John Rawlings

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, has demanded an official letter from the founder of the party, former President Jerry Rawlings before he allows him to join the 2012 campaign.
Mr Nketia appears to be waging a personal battle against the NDC founder as he sets a new rule for Mr Rawlings before the latter can be allowed to stand on the party’s platform.
“Time changes everything and in the past we never wrote a letter to invite him to attend NDC functions, but I can say that certain changes have popped up in this year’s election…henceforth, the relationship which would exist between us would be based on official letter writing,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Okay FM.
This was after the spokesman for Mr. Rawlings, Kofi Adams, made suggestions to the effect that the former President had changed his mind from his initial position of not campaigning and had now decided to join the NDCs campaign trail after meeting with some former executives of the party.
But a statement issued from the office of the former President, moments after Kofi Adams made the announcement, contradicted his claim, with Mr. Rawlings saying that “I am four years older than I was in 2008 and all the exertion plus my international roles mean I am a tired man.”
Mr Rawlings said he was hoping to retire after the last election but “unfortunately things did not fall into place the way they should have”.
Though he expressed the wish that President Mahama would win the upcoming elections, Mr. Rawlings stated, “As a party we have failed in several aspects of governance, particularly with respect to offering confidence to the people that they will receive justice at all times.”
However, the NDC General Secretary virtually said the founder had to indicate by writing before he could be allowed because of previous experiences where the former president had distanced himself from party programmes, warning them not to use his name to win support without getting clearance from his office.
“Whatever we do that we have not sent him an official invitation, you realise that those in his office would put it on the radio (news) as if it is a new thing but it wasn’t like that previously,” Mr Nketia said.
“So now that we have realised that we can only deal on official basis, then when everything is coming [from him], then we expect that they will also follow the rules that they have established for us to understand how they’ve made their minds.”
Though he admitted that he and his colleague members of the National Executive Committee of the party had not heard or received any such communication from Mr. Rawlings himself , he noted, “If we hear any such thing from him, whatever response we have; we will communicate it to him.”
Asked why the demand for Mr. Rawlings to submit an official letter or communication before being made to join the campaign, Mr Asiedu-Nketia said, “It has become important and I think that his office has come to realise that henceforth we will be dealing with them on documents.”
Mr Asiedu-Nketia, a former Seikwa-based banker, did not agree to suggestions by some members of the party to the effect that the election of US President Barack Obama automatically meant a win for their candidate, President John Mahama.
That, he said, was in view of the fact that Americans did not vote in Ghana.
That notwithstanding, the former Seikwa Presbyterian Middle school teacher indicated that some lessons could be drawn from the American elections, claiming that the Republicans destroyed the US economy whilst the Democrats came to fix it.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Mosquito Sacks NDC Rebels

Published in Daily Guide on November 8, 2012 

 

Johnson Asiedu Nketia

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The General Secretary of National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Asiedu-Nketia, has issued a seven-day ultimatum for party members who have filed to contest as independent candidates to rescind their decision or lose their membership.
It follows the decision by some members of the NDC including Dr Ato Quarshie, Michael Teye Nyaunu, Albert Zigah and Andrew Okaikoi to contest as independent candidates.
Dr. Ato Quarshie, who is a former Roads and Highways Minister, is contesting the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem constituency. Michael Teye Nyaunu, the incumbent NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower Manya, and Albert Zigah, NDC MP for Ketu South are contesting as independent candidates in their constituencies. Andrew Okaikoi, husband of former Information Minister Zita Okaikoi is contesting at Okaikoi North.
But at a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Asiedu-Nketia said, “The decision of the National Executive Committee with respect to these candidates is that we are giving them one week from today to decide whether they want to be part of the NDC in which case they will withdraw these nominations.”
H noted, “After one week from today (yesterday), they would have abdicated from the NDC.”
This, he said, was in view of the fact that the party intended to present a united front in the upcoming election which was barely a month away.
General Mosquito, as Asiedu Nketia is affectionately called, stressed the need for all card-bearing members of the NDC who had filed nominations to contest the 2012 parliamentary elections as independent candidates to withdraw their candidature.
He however fell short of saying whether or not the decision to go independent would affect the chances of the party in the upcoming election.
Attempts to speak with some of the independent candidates proved unsuccessful, with some declining to comment.
Political observers believed a member of the party contesting as an independent candidate, against one fielded by the party itself, could seriously affect the fortunes of the party since it would split most of its votes.
The NDC has fielded parliamentary candidates in all the 275 constituencies, unlike in the year 2008 when the party failed to present candidates in parts of the Ashanti Region, the stronghold of its main contender the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

We’ll End Load-Shedding – NPP

Published in Daily Guide on October 25, 2012

 

Nana Akomea

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has promised to end the load-shedding exercise that the country is often bedeviled with when voted into power.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, Communications Director of the party Nana Akomea said, “When it becomes necessary to ration electricity, the NPP will depart from the current situation where whole areas are blacked out totally.”
He believed the current mode of load-shedding, which was ‘total blackout’, was “archaic and too distressful”, wondering why the nation would undergo a load-shedding exercise when the Akosombo Dam was operating normally and at its peak.
The situation is said to be having a terrible toll on businesses, industries and households, welfare and social lives of millions of Ghanaians as some households have been exposed to robbery attacks.
Nana Akomea said the NPP was considering a number of options in regulating efficient power supply to every Ghanaian home including “simple (radio controlled) domestic devices that shut off parts of the electricity supply (say higher power consuming devices), leaving power available for essentials (lighting, radio etc)”.
He stated that the party planned to “assist domestic consumers to acquire portable, battery-operated power banks (akin to UPS) that store power and make it available for considerable time when the mains is off”.
Another backup arrangement, according Nana Akomea, was to “assist and encourage consumers to install simple, inexpensive solar systems to provide power to essential domestic devices when the mains are off”.
He disputed the NDC government’s claim to have increased power supply over the last three-and-a-half years, noting that “this ‘unprecedented’ boost is being made and repeated even as the nation has for months been suffering from electricity rationing.”
In order to achieve its promise of an industrial and economic transformation, he said, there was need to boost energy supply in the country.
In that regard, the party’s Communications Director stated, “Our presidential candidate is solidly committed to investment”; the reason for which Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had “outlined his commitment to investment in energy to spur our industrial take off”.
He urged Ghanaians to support the NPP by voting for the party to achieve these energy goals for Ghana.

Doctors Give Out Cocaine Man

Published in Daily Guide on October 25, 2012

The cocaine pe;;ets retrieved from Kwaku Sarfo at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Ghana seems to be gradually becoming a hub for the trading of narcotic drugs, with the latest being the bust of another Ghanaian, Kwaku Sarfo, in possession of 77 pellets of substances suspected to be cocaine.
This time around, it was not at Heathrow Airport in London but right here in Ghana where the suspect has been arrested and detained by the police.
The officers at the Korle Bu Police Station received a call from medical doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to attend to an emergency at the facility.
The officers arrived at the facility to witness a suspect who had been operated on to retrieve swallowed pellets of cocaine.
Director of Narcotics Unit of Police Criminal Investigations Department, Superintendent Cuthbert Aapenguo, who confirmed the story to DAILY GUIDE, said upon arrival, the police officers were ushered into one of the male wards at the surgical block of the hospital where 59-year-old Kwaku Sarfo lay.
Surgeons had then removed as many as 77 thumb-size pellets of the substances which were neatly wrapped in condom-like rubbers.
The doctors were said to have called in the police because they were not sure of the substance.
They therefore took an inventory of the drugs and took over the case.
Sources at the hospital said the suspect first went to a private clinic complaining of severe stomach pain but had to be rushed to Korle Bu upon realising that there was more to it than he had merely said since his condition was degenerating and there was a need for a surgical operation.
Upon reaching the hospital, Kwaku Sarfo was said to have been taken to the surgical/medical emergency ward but he had to be taken to the theatre for surgery after which the drugs were detected.
Though he was said to be in a critical condition yesterday, Superintendent Cuthbert said he was responding to treatment.
The police are yet to ascertain where the suspect took the drugs from and other details about him.
“We are continuing investigations to find out how he even got  to the hospital…so when he is okay, then we will be able  to get that information,” the police chief said.
He has since been placed under a 24-hour police guard at the hospital.
A couple of weeks ago, cannabis weighing 1.5 tonnes which was concealed in fresh fruits and vegetables from Ghana, with a street value of $8.6 million, was busted at the Heathrow Airport.
A day after the wee arrest, British officials announced the interception of some cocaine consignment smuggled from Ghana weighing 7.5 kg, with a street value of $ 1.5 million, virtually making nonsense of government’s claim to have clamped down on the drug trade.

Prophet Nkansah Runs Away Over Bribery

Published Daily Guide on October 24, 2012

 

ON THE RUN! Prophet Daniel Nkansah

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The man at the centre of the bribery scandal that has hit the Electoral Commission (EC), Prophet Daniel Nkansah, seems to be playing a game of hide and seek with the police, as all efforts to get him to give his side of the story have proved futile.
This was after the failed presidential aspirant of the New Vision Party (NVP) reported two officials of the EC, Isaac Kofi Asumaning, Director of Elections and his colleague director in charge of Logistics, Emmanuel Asante Kissi, for allegedly collecting an amount of GHC1,600 from him to circumvent the electoral process.
While Mr Asumaning has vehemently denied the allegation and has been speaking to his lawyers, the man who is making the allegation, Prophet Nkansah, a notorious fraudster, can only be contacted on telephone.
The two EC officials were arrested on Monday by the police and charged with bribery and corruption.
But Accra Region Police Public Relations Officer, Freeman Tettey, told DAILY GUIDE yesterday that the man had been evasive.  “Today, he says he will report and at another time tomorrow.”
DSP Tettey expressed surprise at the cold feet developed by Odeefuo Nkansah who prides himself as a ‘man of God’ because he has since refused to answer calls put to his phone to report to the police.
The self-styled man of God is already on police wanted list as an Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for his arrest over a fraud case.
The police PRO therefore concluded “he is on the run; we can’t find him” insisting that “if you know what you are saying is credible, come and substantiate it.”
The police sent men to his house and office but he was nowhere to be found.
What seems to frustrate the police is the fact that he is ‘jumping’ from one radio station to the other spewing out damning allegations, threatening to sue the EC.
Odeefuo Nkansah is suspected to have gone into hiding because a court in Accra has issued a bench warrant for his arrest for supposedly defrauding one Aisha Nurudeen to the tune of GH¢19,000.
But DSP Tettey indicated, “I think after tomorrow (referring to today), we have to think of what to do because this man cannot be let off the hook like that…we need to get him; he needs to give us some information.”
The Law
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that Asante Kissi is reported to have admitted to collecting the money but told the police it was a gift.
But Accra-based legal practitioner, Ace Anan Ankomah, has rubbished the claims by the EC officials that the money was a gift.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, he argued that “the law is clear that if you give money to a public officer to influence the work that he does, it amounts to corruption.”
“If you ask for any recompense, if it’s a gift or reward for doing or not doing your duty, then it’s a bribe. I don’t know what they are talking about,” he said and insisted that “the law says the gift is a bribe; it is corruption of a public officer…and both the giver and the receiver will be guilty.”
Asked whether this development could affect the credibility of the electoral process, the lawyer noted, “It suggests that there is probably something that has been going on…if I were the EC, the people would be interdicted immediately.”
Adamant
However, the embattled director of elections has denied ever receiving any financial inducement from the rampaging prophet. In an interview he granted Accra based Citi Fm on Tuesday, he stated, “I am surprised and shocked about this allegation. I have not demanded anything from this man.
“I don’t know what the man is up to. I don’t know anything about it. I have not taken any money from anybody,” he lamented.
Mr. Asumaning challenged calls for him to step aside for thorough investigations to be carried out. “How do I step aside? What have I done?” he asked rhetorically.
This is not the only allegation that the EC is currently battling to deflect.
The Deputy Chairman of the EC in Charge of Operations, Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, has also been accused by another political party, the United Front Party (UFP), of trying to demand bribe.
Nana Agyenim Boateng, popularly called Gyataba, the National Chairman of the UFP, is alleging that the deputy Chairman received GHC35,000 from the party’s controversial flagbearer, Akwasi Addei, popularly called Odike.
According to Gyataba, Odike is not the UFP’s legitimate flagbearer as he had earlier been sacked from the party.
Odike allegedly greased the palms of the EC deputy Chairman to push his bid through.
Uneasy Calm
When DAILY GUIDE visited the Ridge headquarters of the Commission yesterday, its workers were seen undertaking their daily tasks and speaking in hushed tones.
Groups of EC staff could be heard discussing the scandal.
Attempts by DAILY GUIDE to sample the opinions of personnel of the EC proved futile as many people considered the subject too dangerous to discuss openly.
The few people DAILY GUIDE attempted to interview declined to talk.
Expressions such as “embarrassment” and “shame” were occasionally heard around the EC headquarters.
By midday on Tuesday, all the top officials at the EC could not be contacted.
The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, was said to have gone out of town, his deputy, Mr Kwadwo Safo Kantanka was on a trip to Abuja, Nigeria, while the Deputy Chairman in charge of Finance and Administration, Sulley Amadu, was also absent.
Attempts to reach the Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Christian Owusu Parry, also proved futile, as he was out of his office and he could not be reached on telephone either.