Akufo-Addo’s ears 'hijacked' by Jubilee House cabal who only tell him sweet things – Amoako Baah

There is a group of powerful people at the Jubilee House who make sure that President Nana Akufo-Addo is only told sweet things, a failed Chairman-aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Richard Amoako Baah has said.

“There’s a cabal around the President that misinforms him about the real situation on the ground”, the retired head of the political science department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) told Adakabre Frimpong Manso on Neat FM, adding: “They only tell the President what they think he should hear”.

“If things are not going on well, they hide it from him”, he said, revealing: “I was told to go and tell the President what will make him feel good and reassured of himself and his government and not what might get him disconcerted. That is the problem”, he complained.

According to him, despite the President relaying a message through the First Lady to him for a meeting, the “gatekeepers” at the Jubilee House have refused to grant him access to the President for the past two months.

“Some of them will even tell you that the President is ill. For whatever reasons, they have their own reasons, they will not let you see him”, he revealed to Adakabre, adding: “There is a problem when the President himself tells his wife to tell me to come and see him and I still cannot see him; there is a problem”.

According to him, “I’ve tried several times to see the President but the same thing that happened to Alban Bagbin, which led him to complain publicly that he was being prevented from seeing President John Mahama in the past administration is happening to me”.

“I saw one senior member of the government who said: ‘Doc, the gatekeepers will not let you see him’”.

He continued: “I was advised by the First Lady to see one of the deputy Chiefs of Staff, Mr Asenso-Boakye, to book an appointment for me so I could see the President. After failing to pick my persistent calls, I went to the Presidency to meet him [Asenso-Boakye] and we sat and discussed my issues with a promise by him to give me access to the President but that still hasn’t happened two months on. I’ve called Anthony Karbo but nothing happened; I tried everything possible but to no avail; that’s why I’m saying this on the airwaves”.

“Why must it be on the airwaves of Neat FM that I should be saying this? The gatekeepers will not let you see him. This is what happened to Mahama. They are not helping the President”, a frustrated Dr Amoako Baah complained.

He also revealed: “I’ve seen Freddie Blay [Chairman of the NPP] but nothing happened. I went to his office to talk to him about it, nothing happened. I’ve done everything possible but still, I have been prevented from seeing the President. And this is why you hear Kennedy Agyapong [Assin Central MP] often complaining on radio.

“The same thing that happened to President Mahama, that is what is happening to Akufo-Addo”, he bemoaned.

Not even his complaints to the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei-Opare has helped the situation, Dr Amoako Baah noted.

He, however, said: “I’m sure the President himself doesn’t know about it” but “I hope the President hears my complaints because I meet a lot of NPP members who are always complaining but I tell them there’s nothing I can do because I don’t get access to the President. I don’t have the authority to make any change”.