RE – Spio Garbrah; Where “Feigned Loyalty” Means What?

I must confess, I have never observed an incumbent party as intolerant of criticism as the NDC. Let me state emphatically clear, for the record and before I continue that I am not a member of any political party in Ghana, nor a member of the so-called FRIENDS OF SPIO GARBRAH. I could not believe there are hardcore members of the inner-circle of Prof. Mills’s administration who hate Dr. Ekow Spio Garbrah with passion. I’m not quite sure if Mr. Nana Biakoye edited his article before publishing. I’m one of those Ghanaians who do not believe in politicians but rejoiced when the NPP were rejected at the ballot by honest Ghanaians, not for political reason. But for the rate of corruption within the NPP administration at all levels. If Mr. Biakoye wants to remain in castle for the next eight years, he needs to do a research on why Nana Akuffo Addo lost the 2008 election. One of the main reasons for the demise of Nana Akuffo Addo’s presidential aspirations was the division with the party in the line of Akuffo Addo/Alan Cash. And it looks like the likes of Nana Biakoye, Ato Ahwoi, Koku Anyidoho and some other castle boys have already crafted that line.

If anyone thought Ato Ahwoi was the most gullible politician within the NDC by stooping so low with insults to Dr. Garbrah, then you are DUMB. Your hypocritical article was maliciously full of hatred and fallaciously full of misinformation and lies. How do you discredit the academically, nationally and internationally hard earned reputation of the noble son of Ghana? He is regarded globally as one of Africa’s pre-eminent public servants and there are a few of them on the continent. Yes, Dr. Garbrah raised some questions about the Mills boys, Mr. Biakoye did not respond to those questions, but rather went to town on personal attack. As a die-hard member of the NDC, Dr. Garbrah has every right to be worried about TEAM B, who are in power not for the love of Ghana, but for economic reason. How long did it take Mr. Ayariga to acquire the tractors he claimed to have bid and won? Has the LOOTING started this early in the NDC’s incumbency? Over-night all the office boys at the NDC headquarters and the Kuku Hill office of Prof. Mills have become contractors and some have become middle-men at Tema Harbour.

Where were the shameless Ahwoi, Koku Anyidoho and Nana Biakoye when the “lion” Jerry Rawlings open his jaws? Jerry Rawlings was on every radio/TV station, and on the front of every news paper attacking the castle boys. Uncle Ato, K. Anyidoho, N. Biakoye and their cohort went to bed. Ah, ha ha, COWARDS. But when the toothless dog, poor Dr. Spio Garbrah re-echoed Jerry’s worries, they woke up and went fighting. SHEEEEEEEEEEEEER HYPOCRICYYYYYYYYYYYY. We Ghanaians would like to see the castle boys stand up to Jerry Rawlings, if they have two balls between their legs. Reading between the lines, one could understand why the likes of Ahwoi, Anyidoho and Biakoye are scared of Dr. Spio Garbrah’s potentials. He is not a pocket politician as they are. He is very intelligent, talented and eloquent. Ghana’s history cannot be written without his name as long as the NDC’s achievements will be part of that history;

• He was in charge of the Public Education Committee which successfully re-introduced VAT, after a disastrous attempt in 1990 by the PNDC that included Ato Ahwoi. • • He initiated developed and implemented policies and programs that supported the increasing convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, news media and postal services. • • He is credited with the creation of GET Fund (Ghana Education Trust Fund) • During his ambassadorial ship in USA he was successful in rebuilding Ghana’s image by organizing an unprecedented eight-city investment promotion programme for Ghana’s President (not for himself). • • Dr. Garbrah’s successful bilateral programs in USA were partly credited for President Clinton’s visit to Ghana in 1998 and Ghana is now a recipient of MCA (Millennium Challenge Account).

These are achievements rarely achieved by an entire government in more than one term in some country, not an individual. As a Ghanaian in Diaspora who acquired his degree out of the country, I take it as an insult from Koku Anyidoho, Nana Biakoye and all detractors who questioned Dr. Spio Garbrah’s credentials and his doctorate degree. We don’t buy degrees on the street, but earned them the hard way. Today it is Dr. Garbrah’s in question; tomorrow it could be my hard earned academic laurels. Political talk is cheap, but education everywhere in the world is not. As an eminent Ghanaian and an international figure, who has raised Ghana’s flag high at every corner of the globe, Dr. Garbrah’s credentials are admirable, but not questionable. Unless you hate for the sake of hatred. Dr. Garbrah was an ambassador unofficially flying Ghana’s flag before he joined the NDC in 1994;

• He was Head of Communications at the seventy-seven member-nation African Development Bank, where he directed the $33 billion bank’s global corporate and marketing communications. • • He provided investment, export and tourism promotion counsel to the government of Indonesia, Nederland, Hong Kong and Austria • • He provided financial relations advice to the Government of Hong Kong, Credit Agricole of France and UBAF-Arab American Bank • • Provided energy sector intelligence to OPEC. • If Biakoye wants, he can check from Google or wikipedia and others. Unfortunately Biakoye, Ahwoi and Anyidoho are trying fervently to flush all this achievements by the son of my Motherland and a Role Model to so of us, down the toilet. Constructive criticisms are good for democracy and for mother Ghana, but maybe not good for the castle paupers. Too bad Biakoye, this not 1979 or 1981 and we are not in Cuba or Russia. Dr. Garbrah criticized with good intent just like Rawlings, Majority Leader Gbabin and the MP from Ga Adamgbe who wants Mrs. Zita Okai Kwei out. Yet he was the only one singled out for insults. Dr. Garbrah’s criticisms are patriotic and your insults are full of hypocrisy and jealousy. Nana Biakoye could have called Dr. Garbrah on the phone and talk things out, if he truly believe the latter’s publication in the Daily Graphic was unethical and he truly believes he wants to see Prof. Mills in castle for eight years. But he foolishly followed Uncle Ato. Remember the last time this in-fighting started and Goosie Tanoh walked away, the NDC suffered a humiliating defeat in 2000. Some founding members forget how tirelessly Goosie Tanoh moved from suburb to suburb in the middle of the night mobilizing for the NDC and organizing meetings at dawn at his former residence opposite the Immigration head-office. And so soon the likes of Ahwoi and Biakoye have forgotten and started the in-fighting again. Remember every members contribution is meaningful for a stronger NDC, especially the likes of Dr. Garbrah who can dig deep into their account, when the likes of Biakoye and Ahwoi can not find their check books.

Muhammed S. S. Jawando Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center New York