Nana
Akufo-Addo Is A Corrupt Individual! Part One
By Nana Akyea Mensah, The OdikroThose of us who are worried about the slippery slope into political violence simply because a certain individual wants to be President "at all costs" must begin to raise our voices before it is too late! These series of articles must be seen as my personal contribution to help make sure that sanity prevails in our country before we descend into civil strife and possibly war. It is a humble call on all peace-loving Ghanaians to stand up and be counted!
I am particularly writing in response to the bullying tactics and campaign of insults that are fast becoming the hallmark of the Akufo-Addo campaign and to call the bluff of Mr. Mustapha Hamid, aide to Mr. Akufo-Addo, over his vituperative and intemperate attack on Dr. Arthur Kennedy's call for "a united party that has dealt with corruption and violence and intimidation". See "Arthur K is on a mission to destroy Akufo-Addo – Mustapha Hamid".
Certainly Dr. Arthur Kennedy must know a thing or two about corruption within the NPP in which Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been involved. The fact that he is not pointing them out directly does not mean there is nothing to worry about! I have every intention to address the issue squarely, even if takes a series of ten parts. This is only the beginning.
Dr. Kennedy still remains a party faithful and is not expected to wash the dirty clothes of the NPP in public. But at this stage, his silence on what he knows might be a disservice to God and country. I shall have the time to deal this this aspect in a later series. For now, suffice it to say that I have read carefully his statement calling for sanity to prevail in the party. The spirit of intolerance currently reigning in the NPP will not only ensure its defeat in the 2016 elections, but might also plunge our country into political chaos.
First of all, I wish to thank in advance, all those party sycophants who are quite predictably going to jump at me and insult and annoy me because they will only help to give me fuel to produce the second part of this article with maximum alacrity. The knee-jerk response to the slightest criticism of Nana Akufo-Addo with insults and unwarranted attacks and intimidation is exactly what I am complaining about. And it must be clear to all that Nana Akyea Mensah will not be intimidated!
The systematic attempts by Akufo-Addo's aides to insult and intimidate his opponents and critics is certainly not the best way to defend our democracy. I find it most unfortunate that in all these, Nana Akufo-Addo himself has remained silent, instead of calling his aides to order. Our democracy must not give way to school-yard bullies! It is absolutely important for our democracy to make sure that political candidates endeavour to win elections by the force of their arguments and not by the argument of force.
Apart from the insults, the only Presidential candidate whose body guards have been known to beat up opponents is none other than Nana Akufo-Addo! We all know his personal body guards were seen beating up those of the late President Atta-Mills' at the Oguaa Fetu Afahye in 2008. They were seen beating up former President Rawlings cameraman in a hotel lobby in Kumasi, with Akufo-Addo looking on approvingly! The unfortunate trend still continues to this day. Is it too much to ask that this must stop?
It is a shame that the only occasion where Nana Addo has been on record to condemn these senseless attacks was when they beat up Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng's supporters at the NPP headquarters. They went ahead to beat up President Mills' body guards again at the Manhyia Palace during the 2008 Odwira Festival, under the pretext that a body guard was carrying a gun. What kind of logic is that? Were they expecting body guards to carry bananas?
There is no doubt in my mind that had Dr. Kennedy said what he was saying in the presence of Akufo-Addo's body guards, he would have been severely beaten, and Nana Akufo-Addo would have most probably approved of it! In the lead-up to the 2012 elections, Mr. Asamoah-Boateng had to run for dear life when he attempted to pay a courtesy call at Nana Addo's "Victroy 2012" headquarters. They charged at him on sight, screaming, "Agenda 2016"! "Agenda 2016"! "Agenda 2016"!
Even the current chairperson of the NPP, Mr Paul Afoko, has already received this "baptism of fire" from Nana Akufo-Addo's henchmen, as they generously doled out a fair share of their severe beatings for daring to challenge their boss! A party that cannot tolerate any form of criticism is a political dictatorship and not a political party! What was so wrong with the wise counsel of Dr. Kennedy? If indeed the NPP really means to win an election in Ghana, then they need to heed this call: "The truth is that" Dr. Kennedy writes, "the NPP brand has been tarnished by divisions and violence and intemperate talk since 2008. To win, If he becomes the nominee, he needs a united party that has dealt with corruption and violence and intimidation behind him. To get there, he has huge mountains to climb."
We know very well about Mr. Akufo-Addo's reputation for violence and intimidation, so the least said about this "all die be die" individual, the shorter this article would be. I do not intend to labour the point. However, the spin Mr. Hamid is trying to put on Akufo-Addo as being incorruptible cannot pass without comment. He ought to have let sleeping dogs lie! I have decided to focus on this aspect in these series of articles. Hence the title.
Mr. Mustapha Hamid was quoted as saying, “We are all human beings and may have our deficiencies but Nana Addo’s deficiencies do not include corruption, they do not include violence and they do not include exclusion,” Mr. Mustapha Hamid noted in his attack on Dr. Kennedy. He even went further to claim that Nana Akufo Addo is "unblemished when it comes to corruption".
To further buttress his point, he stated:
"As Attorney-General and later minister for Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo-Addo, never drew one litre of fuel from government coffers, he paid for his own security, never lived in a government bungalow, paid extra from his own pocket in order to sleep in hotels when he went abroad, etcetera; those are public records at the ministries where Nana Addo served as minister".
Really? This is ridiculous! Living in a government bungalow officially designated for ministers does not make a minister corrupt! Sleeping in a hotel on official duties at government expense does not make one corrupt! It seems to me that Mr. Mustapha Hamid does not even know what constitutes corruption! This is a rare piece of nonsense. Is a minister to be considered corrupt simply because he lives in a state bungalow?
For starters, if indeed Mr. Hamid thinks what he is saying is true, then I challenge him to ask his boss to throw more light on what happened at the Hotel Hyatt & Resorts, located on 24M Streets, Nw, Washington, DC 20037, on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. I am putting it to Mr. Akufo-Addo that this is not only a closely guarded secret because it was a criminal fund-raising activity that broke both US and Ghanaian laws, but that he also used the Ghanaian tax payers' money and state resources to finance the entire fund-raising event!
And we are not talking about small money here. The whole event was organized by The Whitaker Group, lobbyists and investment promoters, which later confirmed that indeed the Government of Ghana paid it sums amounting to $1.3 million. The Whitaker Group further explained that "the money was not for lobbying on behalf of the Government only, but includes other works aimed at facilitating trade and investment to create jobs".
This was in reaction to a Ghanaweb publication on
Wednesday, June 11, 2008, an article detailing how the Government
doled out the sum, explaining that "among other things the money
went to service dinners hosted for officials of Government".
See: Whitaker
Group confirms $1.3 million payment from Government By Nana Akyea Mensah, The OdikroThose of us who are worried about the slippery slope into political violence simply because a certain individual wants to be President "at all costs" must begin to raise our voices before it is too late! These series of articles must be seen as my personal contribution to help make sure that sanity prevails in our country before we descend into civil strife and possibly war. It is a humble call on all peace-loving Ghanaians to stand up and be counted!
I am particularly writing in response to the bullying tactics and campaign of insults that are fast becoming the hallmark of the Akufo-Addo campaign and to call the bluff of Mr. Mustapha Hamid, aide to Mr. Akufo-Addo, over his vituperative and intemperate attack on Dr. Arthur Kennedy's call for "a united party that has dealt with corruption and violence and intimidation". See "Arthur K is on a mission to destroy Akufo-Addo – Mustapha Hamid".
Certainly Dr. Arthur Kennedy must know a thing or two about corruption within the NPP in which Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been involved. The fact that he is not pointing them out directly does not mean there is nothing to worry about! I have every intention to address the issue squarely, even if takes a series of ten parts. This is only the beginning.
Dr. Kennedy still remains a party faithful and is not expected to wash the dirty clothes of the NPP in public. But at this stage, his silence on what he knows might be a disservice to God and country. I shall have the time to deal this this aspect in a later series. For now, suffice it to say that I have read carefully his statement calling for sanity to prevail in the party. The spirit of intolerance currently reigning in the NPP will not only ensure its defeat in the 2016 elections, but might also plunge our country into political chaos.
First of all, I wish to thank in advance, all those party sycophants who are quite predictably going to jump at me and insult and annoy me because they will only help to give me fuel to produce the second part of this article with maximum alacrity. The knee-jerk response to the slightest criticism of Nana Akufo-Addo with insults and unwarranted attacks and intimidation is exactly what I am complaining about. And it must be clear to all that Nana Akyea Mensah will not be intimidated!
The systematic attempts by Akufo-Addo's aides to insult and intimidate his opponents and critics is certainly not the best way to defend our democracy. I find it most unfortunate that in all these, Nana Akufo-Addo himself has remained silent, instead of calling his aides to order. Our democracy must not give way to school-yard bullies! It is absolutely important for our democracy to make sure that political candidates endeavour to win elections by the force of their arguments and not by the argument of force.
Apart from the insults, the only Presidential candidate whose body guards have been known to beat up opponents is none other than Nana Akufo-Addo! We all know his personal body guards were seen beating up those of the late President Atta-Mills' at the Oguaa Fetu Afahye in 2008. They were seen beating up former President Rawlings cameraman in a hotel lobby in Kumasi, with Akufo-Addo looking on approvingly! The unfortunate trend still continues to this day. Is it too much to ask that this must stop?
It is a shame that the only occasion where Nana Addo has been on record to condemn these senseless attacks was when they beat up Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng's supporters at the NPP headquarters. They went ahead to beat up President Mills' body guards again at the Manhyia Palace during the 2008 Odwira Festival, under the pretext that a body guard was carrying a gun. What kind of logic is that? Were they expecting body guards to carry bananas?
There is no doubt in my mind that had Dr. Kennedy said what he was saying in the presence of Akufo-Addo's body guards, he would have been severely beaten, and Nana Akufo-Addo would have most probably approved of it! In the lead-up to the 2012 elections, Mr. Asamoah-Boateng had to run for dear life when he attempted to pay a courtesy call at Nana Addo's "Victroy 2012" headquarters. They charged at him on sight, screaming, "Agenda 2016"! "Agenda 2016"! "Agenda 2016"!
Even the current chairperson of the NPP, Mr Paul Afoko, has already received this "baptism of fire" from Nana Akufo-Addo's henchmen, as they generously doled out a fair share of their severe beatings for daring to challenge their boss! A party that cannot tolerate any form of criticism is a political dictatorship and not a political party! What was so wrong with the wise counsel of Dr. Kennedy? If indeed the NPP really means to win an election in Ghana, then they need to heed this call: "The truth is that" Dr. Kennedy writes, "the NPP brand has been tarnished by divisions and violence and intemperate talk since 2008. To win, If he becomes the nominee, he needs a united party that has dealt with corruption and violence and intimidation behind him. To get there, he has huge mountains to climb."
We know very well about Mr. Akufo-Addo's reputation for violence and intimidation, so the least said about this "all die be die" individual, the shorter this article would be. I do not intend to labour the point. However, the spin Mr. Hamid is trying to put on Akufo-Addo as being incorruptible cannot pass without comment. He ought to have let sleeping dogs lie! I have decided to focus on this aspect in these series of articles. Hence the title.
Mr. Mustapha Hamid was quoted as saying, “We are all human beings and may have our deficiencies but Nana Addo’s deficiencies do not include corruption, they do not include violence and they do not include exclusion,” Mr. Mustapha Hamid noted in his attack on Dr. Kennedy. He even went further to claim that Nana Akufo Addo is "unblemished when it comes to corruption".
To further buttress his point, he stated:
"As Attorney-General and later minister for Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo-Addo, never drew one litre of fuel from government coffers, he paid for his own security, never lived in a government bungalow, paid extra from his own pocket in order to sleep in hotels when he went abroad, etcetera; those are public records at the ministries where Nana Addo served as minister".
Really? This is ridiculous! Living in a government bungalow officially designated for ministers does not make a minister corrupt! Sleeping in a hotel on official duties at government expense does not make one corrupt! It seems to me that Mr. Mustapha Hamid does not even know what constitutes corruption! This is a rare piece of nonsense. Is a minister to be considered corrupt simply because he lives in a state bungalow?
For starters, if indeed Mr. Hamid thinks what he is saying is true, then I challenge him to ask his boss to throw more light on what happened at the Hotel Hyatt & Resorts, located on 24M Streets, Nw, Washington, DC 20037, on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. I am putting it to Mr. Akufo-Addo that this is not only a closely guarded secret because it was a criminal fund-raising activity that broke both US and Ghanaian laws, but that he also used the Ghanaian tax payers' money and state resources to finance the entire fund-raising event!
And we are not talking about small money here. The whole event was organized by The Whitaker Group, lobbyists and investment promoters, which later confirmed that indeed the Government of Ghana paid it sums amounting to $1.3 million. The Whitaker Group further explained that "the money was not for lobbying on behalf of the Government only, but includes other works aimed at facilitating trade and investment to create jobs".
Incidentally, Dr. Kennedy was present at the luncheon as the Director of Communications of the Akufo-Addo campaign. He laconically admitted that the secret luncheon did indeed take place with a group composed of mainly US multinational corporations:
"The group", Dr. Kennedy said, "was made up of people with substantial investments in Ghana and also of others who have an interest in investing in Ghana. The meeting was therefore to afford Nana Akufo-Addo the opportunity to explain his vision of transforming the Ghanaian economy and creating a modern society. That was just what happened at the meeting". See: Rejoinder to Enquirer Story On Akufo-Addo's Trip | General News 2008-06-08
The dangers associated with big multinational corporations in the USA financing political parties in a poor third-world country like Ghana cannot be under-estimated. This is the most serious form of political corruption available on the planet! The selection of so-called "business-friendly" candidates by these corporations to "help" them win power are translated often in lower labour standards, a blind eye on vital environmental protection measures, and generally sacrificing the common good for special interests, such as the imposition of GM foods on the population without the consent of the people!
As Adam Smith (Scottish philosopher and economist, 1723-1790) once put it, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public." The question Mr. Hamid must answer is what was Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, who went to the US in search of funding, doing secretly in a room full of multinational corporations, some of whom have been convicted of bribery and corruption in countries as diverse as Germany and Indonesia?
Of course, you and I were not there! And your guess is as good as mine! So if Mustapha Hamid wants to tell us his boss is not corrupt, he must begin by giving us further and better particulars on this event, and stop throwing dust into our eyes on government bungalows!
Stay tuned for the Part Two.
Sincerely,
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
OFFICE OF THE ODIKRO
a companion of the black star!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
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