Response to Governments attempt to distort the truth

.... and malign Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

I read with consternation and utter disgust government’s attempts to divert people’s attention from its inability to govern the country in accordance with the social contract it signed with the Ghanaian Electorate. A statement signed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Information and dated September 3, 2012 which sought to put the blame for the worsening economic and social situation in the country at the door steps of the New Patriotic Party was full of inaccuracies, distortions and blatant lies. As a person who has followed the political activities in the country for a very long time and also a committed member of the New Patriotic Party, I cannot allow the contents of the statement go unchallenged. I owe it a duty to my conscience and the Ghanaian citizens to set the records straight by telling the story the way it should be told. In performing this patriotic duty, I would like to stress that I owe nobody any apology.

It surprises me that a Government which claims to be strongly opposed to the NPP concept of property owning democracy has all of a sudden overtaken the latter in the quest for personal aggrandizement. If the NPP goes about such acquisition in an Arithmetical Progression, that of the Nefarious Destructive Cancer is done in such an obscene way so much so that their own Founder cause to refer to them ad “Greedy Bastards” These greedy bastards manner of acquisition is done through Geometrical Progression.

One would have expected that such a statement should have emanated the substantive Minister of Information, not his subordinate. But that should not surprise you for the NDC is a party where the absurd is the order of the day. Otherwise, why should you expect Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister to be attending Cabinet Meetings and chairing functions where his boss is made to introduce him (the subordinate?)

Never in the history of this country have we had a group of macabre masquerades and demagogues not being able to grasp the simple rudiments of good governance. We have had the most unfortunate plight of being led by a group of dare-devil vampires set loose from the kingdom of hell to sink their poisoned fangs unto the emaciated skin of malnourished Ghanaians.

Our so-called rulers could be described as bedbugs, for through their ever-increasing taxation and forcefully tightening the belts of Ghanaians, they the rulers have burrowed themselves in the skins of the caricature simpleton being referred to as citizens of the country. Their arrogance knows no bounds, for how could a whole Minister of State say that anyone who is not feeling their “Bitter” Ghana Agenda is either dead or asleep? These people who were paupers yesterday have all of a sudden mutated to billionaires overnight.

If these NDC members and the Government have any moral turpitude and respect in them, they ought to have resigned immediately the former President died. But because their conscience is dead, they are still behaving like colonial masters and using the whips on the rest of us as if we were their slaves. I wrote many articles asking them to tell us the true state of the health of the former President and that if anything untoward happened to the latter, they would be held accountable. What did I get in return for my patriotic stance? Attacks and insults galore!

Does Okudzeto Ablakwa have the morale right to castigate the NPP for attempting to right the wrongs which the NDC has imposed on the citizenry by promising to introduce free and Qualitative Senior High School Education? Does he? No he doesn’t! But he and many others who had contributed immensely to the untimely demise of the late President have been emboldened because Ghanaians have not initiated moves to get them account for their roles in the untimely death of the former President. But they are living on borrowed time. Very soon, they will be called to answer for their complicity in the mysterious death of the former President, President Mahama inclusive.

The NDC statement alleges that no NDC Minister of State has bought his official bungalow and attempted to deprive other public servant forever. This is one of such malicious lies being perpetrated by the likes of Okudzeto and Baba Jamal. The President John Mahama has bought state land with a building on it by proxy. There was a building on the property the

President bought in the name of his brother just like the one Jake Obetsebi Lamptey bought. If what Jake did was bad, we must as well condemn the action of President John Mahama.

What about Ato Ahwoi? The Training School of the National Investment Bank at East Legon, opposite Erata Hotel originally belonged to Ato Ahwoi, the power broker at the Castle. He obtained a loan from the Bank and used the buildings as collateral. When he defaulted in the repayment, the Bank took possession of the property and converted it into Training School. When the NDC came back to power, it put the Training School, together with a building which served as residential accommodation for staff of the Bank at North Kaneshie behind Dans Bar and Three Plots of land with a building on it at Tesano which caters for Artisans (General Services) for auction

Can Okudzeto Ablakwa give me one sensible reason why the Board put such strategic National Assets for sale? Wasn’t it an indirect way for Ato Ahwoi to get back his property through the back door just as the President also bought a state bungalow by proxy? And if I may further ask, by selling the property at Tesano, where did the Board want the workers to stay? And Okudzeto Ablakwa had the gut to talk of Jake denying Ghanaians of where they would stay.

Which is worse? In Jake’s case, nobody was staying in the bungalow, but in the NIB’s own, there were workers staying there? If Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Deputy Minister who attends Cabinet Meetings has a clear conscience, let him publish the names of all the buyers of these strategic National assets and we shall follow it up to the Lands Commission to see who actually own(s) those lands. Hopefully, the NPP will win the December, 2012 General Elections to make the task easier.

Again, this disaster of a ‘greedy bastard’ who was removed as President of NUGS due to his “under current” activities had the gut to say that Ghanaians know that their Speaker of Parliament has not raided her official residence. Hey Okudzeto Ablakwa, stop there. Yes, it’s true the speaker during the NPP period did that and we condemned and still do so. But you’ve forgotten something. If you have forgotten, let me remind you. When Mr. Alex Tettey Enyo was removed as Minister of Education (not by President Mills, but by those who did not like to see Mr. Tettey Enyo’s face) what happened? Mrs. Betty Mould took over the portfolio. Have you forgotten what she did? She stripped the office of all the furniture, window blinds and the rugs in the Minister’s office. Where she took them to, nobody knows.

We learnt she removed those items and had new ones installed in the office on the suspicion that the former Minister might have put juju on those items, something those of us in the NPP never experienced or thought our colleagues of being engaged in.

The NPP can pride itself and say that unlike the NDC whose President has bought a plane and passed it on to his brother, ours never did anything of the sort. If you doubt the fact that the plane was bought by the current President, answer these questions. How long has the President’s brother been in business? Why did he not buy the Plane until his brother became Vice President? And why did he not buy the plane until his brother, the current President had brought the STX Korean deal to Ghana? Our Vice President never attempted to defraud his country by bringing into Ghana a company as dubious as the STX. How are we going to reclaim the insurance amount of over $264million paid upfront to the Koreans as Insurance Guarantees?

Again Okudzeto Ablakwa talks of NPP drug barons holding the country hostage. Is it deliberate mischief on his part or he doesn’t know what is happening around him? Wasn’t it the former President who confided in the American Ambassador that he suspected most of his Aides and Ministers were involved in the drug trade and so volunteered himself to be searched so that all other ministers and appointees will be subjected to the same routine checks/ Has he forgotten that so soon? Has he forgotten how many Ghanaians were deliberately allowed to smuggle from Kotoka International Airport only to be arrested at the JFK Airport aboard Delta Airlines. When queried, what was the response of NACOB Officials at the Airport? They said they were not allowed to go on board the aircraft to conduct a search by officials of the Airlines. Where can you tell such a story except NDC Ghana? Till date we have not heard the outcome of the so-called investigation.

And just yesterday, (Friday, 28th September, 2012) the biggest cannabis seizure in three years occurred at the Heathrow Airport in Britain. The seizures in three separate freight containers willed with fresh fruits and vegetables weighed 1.5 tons and had a street value of 4.3 million Pounds Sterling. What happened to the scanners installed at the Airport? Earlier reports indicated that those NACOB officials expected to be on duty never turned up. Is it a case of NACOB Officials acting in consort with the NDC to get morning to be used in oiling its campaign machinery? During the NPP’s time, bail for drug related offences were denied. But NDC came and restored it and in addition freed Taggor and Abbas who had been jailed by a court of competent jurisdiction for their involvement in the swapping of parcels of cocaine for “konkonte”. Yet that Minister of “misinformation” is not ashamed to suggest that between the NPP and the NDC, the latter stands tall. Today’s largest haul and other commission and inactions of the NDC are indications that the Okudzeto Ablakwa’s party is deeply immersed in the drug business.

The New Patriotic Party never appointed any person of questionable character, (someone who had worked in close partnership with some foreigners to bring drugs into the country or attempt to smuggle it out of the country) a cabinet Minister. No, we never did that. But the NDC did. Yes, the party appointed Rojo Mettle Nunoo as Deputy Minister of Health, obviously as reward for using the illegal money from the drugs to oil the campaign machinery of their party. It was no wonder he didn’t excel. Perhaps the ‘inhaling’ of the substance as he worked with the drug barons might have got into his system. Rojo’s brother, another Mettle Nunoo was the officially accredited officer for the buster foreign drug barons.

Do you remember the so-called massacre of Ghanaians by the Gambian authorities? After making so much noise that 44 Ghanaians had been massacred, the NDC was forced to eat humble pie by accepting only eight as the true number of people who got killed by the security agencies in the Gambia. And the compensation? The NDC kept the compensation in some secret account for more than six months before disclosure was made when the Minister of Foreign AffaIrs appeared before Parliament to answer questions.

How much was paid as compensation to each of the family of the deceased? Pittance! Could you imagine a situation where each of the graves dug gulped more than Fifty Million Cedis? Insults, one might say. What do they take Ghanaians for?

Oh God, Okudzeto and his people are evil. They have milked Ghanaians dry to the bones and should not escape your wrath and that of the masses. Trail them. Pursue them…. Demolish them ……. Bulldoze them …. Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered. Let none escape!

When we talk about criminality, the NDC is number on the list. Take their Member of Parliament for Sene, Felix Twumasi Appiah for example. I had expected Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to have said something on this “abnormal” character who is a member of the law making body in the country. Not once but twice was he busted for some fraudulent gold deal. He attempted to sell fake gold dust to a buyer and was caught in the process. The case was taken to the Law Court, but when NDC won power, the case was terminated. But in line with the saying that “once a thief, always a thief” our ‘dishonorable’ man was in the news again for doing what he knows best – attempting to dupe another person in a gold business. In the second case, a court of competent jurisdiction asked the Police to arrest and charge the accused with the crime, but till date, the Police are yet to do so.

You see how criminally minded the NDC is. They made the arrest and prosecution of the murderers of Issah Mobilla a campaign issue. When NPP was exiting power, it handed over the three alleged murderers of Issah Mobilla to the NDC. But what did we see? They allow one of the alleged murderers to escape from lawful custody and it took more than five months after the escape before it came to public notice, by which time the fugitive would have covered all his tracks. This is a matter

Okudzeto Ablakwa exhibited how confused and ignorant he is when he attempted to equivocate his way through the eyes of the Ghanaian populace by saying his moribund NDC Government had inherited a tottering economy. He went on to state that the World Bank had, at the end of NPP tenure described the Ghanaian economy “in the most unflattering terms”. But his own sins like that of King David found him out. If the world Bank had described Ghana’s economy in such uncomplimentary terms as he would like the whole world to believe, why should the same body accept a newer and much more complimentary and written report about the Economy when the country applied for some facility? So, Okudzeto Ablakwa, you are after all not as intelligent as you portray yourself to be.

This same Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who a few minutes ago had described the country’s economy as being in a state of comatose later admits to writing another detailed report telling the IMF how ‘juicy’ the Ghanaian economy way. Does he think he is dealing with kindergarten pupils? He should not think he is the only intelligent person in the country, just as Fiifi Kwetey thinks he is better than all the NDC Members of Parliament. Well, they could be the best in their party, but obviously not in the NPP. So Okudzeto Ablakwa ought to speak with circumspection when talking to matured adults, some of whom might be more intelligent than he is.

Okudzeto Ablakwa who rates Ghana’s economy one of the fastest growing in the world might have been hallucinating to come to such a conclusion. In an article in the Forbes Magazine of General News 2012-06-26 was this headline, “Ghana in ranks of world’s worst economies” . The story begins’

“Ghana has the largest manmade lake and the 1-gigawatt Akosombo Hydroelectric Plant, built to supply electricity to Africa’s largest aluminum smelter. But the smelter has been idle since 2009, a casualty of low aluminum prices and persistent electricity shortages that have forced the government to divert the power elsewhere.

“Ghana is a typical example of the world’s worst managed economies: It’s a country that shouldn’t be poor, but it is. The West African nation’s gross domestic product per capital fell 9% last year to $621, ranking it 154th out of 184 countries tracked by the international Monetary Fund, below resource-impoverished Haiti. With $3billion trade deficit last year and $4.9 billion external debt, Ghana is struggling to pay its bills even as it sits on some of the world’s biggest reserves of gold and bauxite, as well as considerable amounts of offshore oil, which is being developed by Anadarko Petroleum (APA-news-people) and others.

“Ghana’s problems are mostly homegrown,” said Peter Allum, the IMF’s mission chief to Ghana, in February, 2012. Forbes ranks Ghana ninth on our list of the world’s worst economies.

How does one reconcile Okudzeto Ablakwa ‘scintillating’ performance of the Ghanaian economy under mediocre presidency of the late President Mills and the current one? Isn’t it time this young acrobatic disaster acted Japanese by loo king for his wife’s necklace to commit hari-kari for dealing dishonestly with Ghanaians?

On Nana’s Free and Qualitative Senior High School for all, I will not say much for I have addressed most of the challenging issues in my previous write up. All that I can add to it is that the NDC, having realized it has no message for the Ghanaian is getting jittery over the impact Nana Akufo Addo’s free and qualitative Senior High School education concept is having on the electorate. In its attempts to halt the bandwagon effect of the policy, it has tasked its Chemical Alis, the Paul Joseph Goebbels, the Rasputin Grigorys, the Ayatollah Khomeinis, the Don Quixotes, the O.J.Simpsons, the Mike Tysons, and the Peter Rabbits to device a poisoned chalice to be administered on unsuspecting adherents of the policy.

What President John Dramani Mahama and his nebulous rabble rousers in the Nefarious Destructive Cancer are doing is reminiscent of efforts the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Jewish Rulers did to check the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tried as they did they never succeeded. Even after the death of Jesus Christ, the Gospel continued to spread. So it is going to be with Akufo Addo Free and Qualitative Senior High School which is gathering momentum and spreading like a wide bush fire.

President John Mahama, together with his acolytes must realize that no amount of calumny or intimidation will detract Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and the New Patriotic Party from the chosen path of ushering in an era of free and qualitative education for all students at the Senior High School level when the masses eventually vote for Nana on December 7, 2012

We in the NPP are a determined people filled with the resolve to create a level playing field for all participants In the journey through the education terrain. We wish to remind our political detractors that their deliberate attempts to sidetrack real issues in order to engage in mudslinging and personal attacks will not in any way lesson our resolve to hold on to our mantra of offering free and qualitative education for all at the Senior High School Level. We will at all time regard the cacophonous noise emanating from the stable of our political detractors as the ranting of ants and of no consequence whatsoever. We will not, for even a moment be dissuaded from our chosen path of brightening any corner that we find ourselves. This is the legacy bequeathed on us by our Founding Fathers.

The Battle is the Lords and it is He who will fight for us as it happened in the days of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. We are moving on board a Supersonic Airliner and are asking the likes of Okudzeto and the rest to jump out of their one engine jet plane that the President has bought for his brother and join ours.

The Sanhedrin could not quench the Pentecostal flame. How much less Okudzeto Ablakwa and his cohorts?

Daniel Danquah Damptey([email protected]) 0243715297.