Richard Mahoney On Danquah's CIA Connections – Part One

Richard Mahoney On Danquah's CIA Connections – Part One

Feature Article by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

A Rejoinder to: Richard Mahoney: On Danquah and Nkrumah – Parts One, Feature Article of Wednesday, 14 December 2011, by Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame

For those of you who might not be following the politics of this debate, let me give a quick background to it. Dr. J. B. Danquah is considered “the doyen” of Gold Coast politics by the NPP in general, and particularly, by his handful of hard-core followers, mostly his blood relations, who also appear to be clearly and discernibly seeking to take advantage of his over-blown hero-status as a platform to launch their own personal political ambitions. Prominent among that group is Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, Danquah's nephew and flag-bearer of the NPP, one such politician who has firmly hinged his overall political campaign strategy as a continuation of the promotion of the ideals and values of what J.B. Danquah represented. His speech announcing his intention to contest the presidency attests to this campaign packaging. More importantly, he even established the Danquah Institute, pushing his own nephew and a grandson of Danquah, Mr. Otchere-Darko, then Managing Editor of the Statesman to man it.

Akufo-Addo was hoping to ride on the back of Danquah's fame to the Presidency. Things seemed to go smoothly for some time, particularly when NPP was in power, and external funders of right-wing think-tanks have never been difficult to obtain. The growing public awareness of the scandal involving human sacrifice and ritual murder in which Danquah was more than a mere defence attorney led the first body-blow to the carefully crafted image of a “gentle Danquah, meek and mild”, instead of the shameless accomplice to a ritual murder and human sacrifice! The Danquah followers have already been having a hard time with this scandal involving the ritual murder of Nana Akyea Mensah, the Odikro of Apedwa in February 1944, which is beginning to be widely known. Thus an additional scandal exposing such a villain as a CIA agent is another body blow to the propaganda materials they have been churning out about Danquah as a selfless patriot and so on, for obvious reasons.

An exposure of Danquah as a CIA agent, is exactly the kind of thing the Akufo-Addo campaign can ill afford at this time. It throws the entire Akufo-Addo campaign, carefully planned over the years completely out of gear. This explains the deep sense of alarm we saw live on TV when the CIA status of Danquah was revealed by Dr. Boamah Omane. It was quickly understood that after having tied his fate to “the doyen of Gold Coast politics”, J. B. Danquah's fall from grace to grass cannot take place without some of the political consequences washing on the fortunes of Akufo-Addo in the context of the current electoral campaign. Suspicions have already been raised by the links between “all die be die” and the US Africa Command, with what Otchere-Darko calls “Washington’s strategy of working with its regional allies in West Africa to develop relationships that will secure its energy security in the long term.” See: “Obama’s Visit – What’s In It For Us And U.S.?”, by Otchere-Darko, Gabby Asare, Feature Article of Monday, 25 May 2009.

Even though Otchere-Darko's performance was a complete flop, he obviously had very little room to manoeuvre with lies. Let's face it, how can they possibly challenge Richard Mahoney when Okoampa himself is saying: “One source which the followers of Mr. Nkrumah, the so-called Nkrumaists, have consistently, persistently and perennially cited to cast both doubt and aspersions on the integrity of Dr. Danquah is Richard D. Mahoney’s quite authoritative treatise on United States’ foreign policy vis-à-vis Africa during the Eisenhower and the Kennedy years, titled JFK: Ordeal in Africa (New York: Oxford UP, 1983). But that the author’s father, William P. Mahoney, was the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana during the Kennedy years, has predictably served to further enhance the credibility and authority of his book in the opinion of these diehard Nkrumaists.”? See: “Richard Mahoney: On Danquah and Nkrumah – Part One" by Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame, Feature Article of Wednesday, 14 December 2011. It is clearly a losing battle here. Perhaps this explains why Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe is so keen even to flog the dead horse with irrelevant tales! Perhaps he is being fooled by the Churchillian definition of success as “the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm”!

The incontrovertible fact that has remained equally unassailable to all attempts by Akufo-Addo handlers has been the revelation that point clearly to J.B. Danquah's involvement with the US Central Intelligence Agency, (CIA). The sad thing about this revelation is that the Akufo-Addo team appear to be fully aware of the damaging implications not only on Danquah's image, but also on Akufo-Addo's own political career, but appear to be caught off-guard and helpless. Their number one problem is that the facts are true, and they do not seem to have any intelligent response. It was simply disgusting to see Otchere-Darko going into tantrums at the mere mention of this on TV, and remaining conspicuously silent particularly after an article I wrote, “J. B. Danquah Was A CIA Asset!” Feature Article of Saturday, 1 October 2011, by Mensah, Nana Akyea. Otchere-Darko kept silent. I followed it up with “Ochere-Darko Must Render Proper Apologies For 'Stupid' Insults!” Again there was dead silence. I wrote a Part Two and made sure that Otchere-Darko had a copy by e-mail. It was a shrivelled and completely flattened Otchere-Darko who responded:

“gabby@danquahinstitute.org via srs.bis7.eu.blackberry.com to me, 12/10/2011.

Re: nanaakyeamensah@gmail.com has shared: Ochere-Darko Must Render Proper Apologies For “Stupid” Insults! Part II

Thank you. Most thoughtful!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Vodafone”

That was all. Your guess is as good as mine as to what explains such an inexplicable climb down. Qanawu, of all people, refused to “talk and die”! He has since been avoiding the topic like a plague! He knows in his own bones that there is no antidote to facts, and the best solution is to avoid the topic entirely. Which is understandable, even though it leaves the Akufo-Addo campaign politically orphaned and stranded in the wilderness of exposure of what they are capable of. Considering the facts, silence is perhaps the best solution to this problem. It is therefore clear that if Okoampa-Ahoofe had consulted Otchere-Darko before writing his article, Otchere-Darko would have told him to “let sleeping dogs lie”. But that is certainly the kind of advice Okoampa would misconstrue as an irritating indication of a lack of confidence in his ability to re-write history in his capacity as an Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City.

The funny thing here is that Okoampa probably thinks he is helping Akufo-Addo! I have often maintained, Okoampa always reminds me of the Roman general who said, I more fear a stupid ally than I fear a clever enemy”. With the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute on the run, it came as no surprise that Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., would naturally step in to save the situation. What we need to make clear is the fact that we know that there is hardly a Danquah follower who did not know that Danquah was a CIA agent, even though they would vehemently deny it in public, just as Danquah himself did in his time. The only hitch this time is that both in terms of content and author, they are finding it impossible to challenge Richard Mahoney's assertions that J. B. Danquah's family received CIA stipends when he was in prison. We are dealing with people who would ask you for the receipts to prove that the CIA was paying any money to Danquah. Thus, it is exceptionally fortuitous that the facts and the evidence came from a completely unexpected source.

It has not been easy since 1958 to lay hands on the hard evidence to categorically link and nail Danquah as a CIA agent, even though it was very clear to the Ghanaian intelligence that he was up to something. As Paul Lee explains in “Documents Expose the first evidence that emerged were anecdotal:

“While charges of U.S. involvement are not new, support for them was lacking until 1978, when anecdotal evidence was provided from an unlikely source - a former CIA case officer, John Stockwell, who reported first-hand testimony in his memoir, In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story.

'The inside story came to me,' Stockwell wrote, 'from an egotistical friend, who had been chief of the [CIA] station in Accra [Ghana] at the time.' (Stockwell was stationed one country away in the Ivory Coast.)

Subsequent investigations by The New York Times and Covert Action Information Bulletin identified the station chief as Howard T. Banes, who operated undercover as a political officer in the U.S. Embassy.”

And perhaps that would have been all we would have ever known had Richard Mahoney not published his book. In 2002, John R. Stockwell, a former CIA officer who became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of duty explains in an interview:

“Howard Banes who was the CIA station chief in Accra engineered the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah. Now, obviously, you can look at it in different ways. A Ghanaian might say I thought we did it. Inside the CIA, though, it was quite clear. Howard Banes had a double promotion and an Intelligence Star for having overthrown Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana.

The magic of it, what made it so exciting for the CIA, was that Howard Banes had had enough imagination and drive to run the operation without ever documenting what he was doing, and to sweep along his bosses in such a way, they knew what he was doing, tacitly they approved, but there wasn't one shred of paper that he generated that would nail the CIA hierarchy as being responsible.”

As Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah, puts it:

“Danquah’s detention under the PDA resulted from his involvements in coup plots in collaboration with the CIA. During the first treason trial of Awhiatey-Amponsah-Apaloo conspiracy of November 1958, after the passage of the PDA, J. B. Danquah was heard assuring a foreign diplomat that Nkrumah’s government would be overthrown in December 1958 (Bing). But the security forces did not act on it. They kept close eyes on him and other enemies of the State in order to gather hard evidence.” See: "Fallacies of J. B. Danquah's Heroic Legacy (V)", Feature Article of Monday, 25 September 2006 Columnist: Botwe-Asamoah, Kwame Dr.

For those of us looking for evidence of “receipts” of CIA payments to Danquah before we can be convinced that J.B. Danquah was indeed a CIA asset, the “receipt” came in the form of a book. As we can see from Okoampa's accounts, Richard Mahoney was no admirer of Kwame Nkrumah, and he was obviously not writing to please Pan-Africanists, when he noted that:

“The matter concerned Dr. J. B. Danquah, Nkrumah's opponent in the Presidential elections of 1960, who had been released from prison a few months after Mahoney's arrival as ambassador. Danquah paid a visit one November day to the embassy to ask Mahoney why the funds his family had been receiving during his imprisonment had been cut off after his release.

This was the first time Mahoney had heard of the arrangement. After Danquah left, he summoned the CIA chief of station to ask why he had not been advised by the agency's association with Danquah. Dissatisfied with the explanation, Mahoney flew to Washington two days later and personally informed Kennedy about the matter.” Read from page 184-185.

As I noted earlier in “J. B. Danquah Was A CIA Asset!”, Feature Article of Saturday, 1 October 2011 Columnist: Mensah, Nana Akyea:

“The story in the book, “JFK: Ordeal in Africa”, is very clear. According to Richard Mahoney, Danquah’s collaboration with the CIA became clear when he went to the US Embassy, after Nkrumah had pardon Danquah and other detainees on June 2, 1962, to ask “why the funds his family had been receiving during his imprisonment had been cut after his release.” As Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah, correctly recounts, “This caused Mr. Mahoney, the new US Ambassador to Ghana to summon “the CIA chief of station to ask why he had not been advised of the agency’s association with Danquah.” Displeased with the explanation, “Mahoney flew to Washington two days later and personally informed Kennedy about the matter” (Mahoney)." - Feature Article of Monday, 25 September 2006, Columnist: Botwe-Asamoah, Kwame Dr., Fallacies of J. B. Danquah's Heroic Legacy (V)”.

I think there is no easy way to deny a fact that is published by an authoritative source, but Okoampa's pathetic attempts to beat about the bush only helps Ghanaians to focus more on what he wants to divert our attention from. An ugly tactic that did not go down well was the attempt by Otchere-Darko to use insults and “takashi” or “all die be die” in response to these allegations. Since the event happened live on radio and TV programme on Joy FM and Multi TV, most Ghanaians did see, and most would easily recall the disgraceful manner the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute put up in the course of the discussion on the Founder's Day, last September. It was pathetic. Mr. Kweku Baako was talking about the need for a broad political consensus across Ghana's political spectrum.

“That will dilute the whole thing.” Dr. Omane-Boamah would not agree. In supporting his claim, he insisted that it would be wrong to include former “CIA agents like Dr. J. Danquah” as a founder of Ghana. It is precisely at this point that Otchere-Darko's misbehaviour began:

“Would you stop this stupidity?” Gabby asked angrily. “Would you stop this stupidity? Why is he so stupid? You are sitting here and accusing somebody of being a CIA agent, what sort of stupidity is that? What is this stupidity? This is stupidity… you consider a founder of Ghana as a CIA agent, what sort of stupidity is this? ...this is pure stupidity.”

Gabby Otchere Darko was then asked by the host of the show to apologize to listeners and Dr. Omane Boamah for the insulting language but Gabby would only apologize to listeners. He stubbornly refused to apologize to the deputy Minister. He rather chose the option of walking out of the studio than to apologize for the insults. He was subsequently asked to leave the studios for his refusal to apologize to Omane Boamah, since that was the rule. Gabby Otchere Darko accepted the option of not apologizing and walking out to apologize and stay, and walked off the live program stating:

“When you want us to have an intellectual programme like this, you don't bring people like this. I am not going to apologize, I can apologize to the viewers and listeners but not him. He insults J.B. Danquah and you want me to apologize to him? …I am not going to do that. Why should I do that? … If that is what you want I will walk out on your programme, I won't do it!”

I remember the reaction of Ekow Nelson: “Okoampa and Otchere-Darko are getting overly emotional about the wrong side of this issue. they are arguing that JB Danquah did not need any motivation from a foreign government to destabilize and overthrow the elected government of Ghana. He did what the CIA would have liked him to do but took no money for it! He did all of that pro bono! So why is that redeeming for Dr. Danquah?” And here was my own: “The only way out I saw for Gabby in this predicament was to have honestly admitted the fact that the CIA paid stipends to J.B. Danquah's wife whilst in prison, explained why this was so, and to have left the public in peace to go and find out for themselves! He could then have added, as he seems to explain so eloquently with his “friend of America” excuses, that even if Danquah was a CIA agent, he did it for the good of the nation but not for stipends. And he could have allowed the public to judge for themselves who is really stupid!” See: "Ochere-Darko Must Render Proper Apologies For “Stupid” Insults! Part I", by Nana Akyea Mensah, Featured Articles | 7 October 2011.

Even Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe was embarrassed enough to confess that the reaction of the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabriel Asare Ochere-Darko, to the allegations that “Danquah was a CIA agent”, was a "rather startlingly infantile reaction", even though he agrees with him! See: "Omane-Boamah Deserved that Bit of It", Feature Article of Friday, 30 September 2011. So I was completely taken aback, and could not believe my eyes at first, when I saw an article by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., on this topic. But even more shocking than the fool-hardy idea of commenting on what has apparently been declared “a lost battle” and is fast becoming a taboo topic in the Akufo-Addo campaign, is the manner with which he beats about the bush and begs the simple question of whether or not J. B. Danquah was a CIA spy!

What Ghanaians want to know are the facts. Did J.B. Danquah go to the US Ambassador to ask why the CIA had stopped paying stipends to his wife? That is the question! Okoampa should stop beating about the bush and tell us why the CIA was paying these "stipends" in question to his hero's wife when he was in prison! Did J.B. Danquah go to see the then US Ambassador to Ghana, after Nkrumah had pardoned him and other detainees on June 2, 1962, to ask “why the funds his family had been receiving during his imprisonment had been cut after his release”? If you claim you read the book, then you ought to know that this very line is also in the book: “why the funds his family had been receiving during his imprisonment had been cut after his release”?

Grandson, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that, Baby!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro, is a member of the Social Media Outreach Programme of the Pan-Africanist International - a grammar of Pan-Africanism and its manners of articulation! And is also known to Kwame Okoampa, the notorious assassin of character, as: "Ali Masmadi Sasabonsam Jehu Shoaboni Appiah, who now presumptuously and conveniently goes by the name of Nana Akyea-Mensah, the name of a historic man the likes of whose dignity and ineffable cynosure that SOB would never encounter among the male members of his largely pathologically skirt-chasing and pedophiliac family." See: A Typical Ghanaian Prophet, Feature Article | Thu, 21 Jul 2011, by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Ochere-Darko Must Render Proper Apologies For “Stupid” Insults! Part I

Ochere-Darko Must Render Proper Apologies For “Stupid” Insults! Part I

Feature Article,
By Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

Watch Video: Gabby walks off Newsfile after 'stupid' insult Politics.flv



A point of clarification. I take Ochere-Darko's insults to be sufficiently self-serving as to be anything but stupid. I have no intention of insulting him and have refrained from that effectively. Thus “'Stupid' Insults” here do not necessarily mean the insults were stupid. That is not what I meant in the title. The “stupid” is there only as a representative of Ochere-Darko's original insult. Personally, I think that, far from being stupid, the insults helped Ochere-Darko to wriggle himself out of a difficult situation, without needing to concede to the dreadful fact that Danquah was indeed an imperialist agent. For him, it seemed important that any proper debate be sabotaged. Bothering to comport himself in a civilized manner could have been too dangerous. The truth could have come out so easily! So, for me, he is probably congratulating himself and thinks he has been clever for misbehaving in this way.

What is therefore necessary now is, for those of us who think otherwise, to make sure that he does not get away with it! Ochere-Darko cannot decide for Ghanaians which traitors we are allowed to name, expose, and shame, and which ones we may not. Human rights, rule of law or other self-righteous motivations for Democracy or for CIA stipends notwithstanding! We all have a moral responsibility to denounce the agents of imperialist domination of the people of Ghana because it has a direct impact on the quality of our very lives. And the fact that one could have a personal relationship with any traitor, does not accord anyone any right or special privilege to misbehave publicly whenever those dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. So far as there is evidence from a credible source that J. B. Danquah's wife received stipends from the CIA to which he, Danquah completely felt entitled, to the extent of going to complain about “payment arrears” to the US Ambassador, instead of saying “thank you” to the CIA, the remarks by Dr. Omane Boamah can not be considered “stupid”.

On the contrary, some of us find it to be one of the wisest statements ever uttered on radio or TV in Ghana. This is very important in the light of the increasing lies and spin by the Danquah Institute which attempt to let Danquah pass as a national hero. The Ghanaian media needs to satisfy itself independently with the facts, determine for themselves on the basis of the evidence, whether or not one can safely argue that Dr. J. B. Danquah was a CIA asset. And if this is so, they should uphold the right to say so without being insulted in this way by a fellow panellist! Having satisfied themselves, our media practitioners will have to insist that Ochere-Darko apologized or finds himself ostracised. It would be repugnant enough if, after all this, without proper apologies, Ochere-Darko is to be invited once more to portray such an uncouth and arrogant character in public again. The media must take the bull by the horns and call a spade a spade, a hero a hero, and a spy a spy! He must be made to retract his insults, most especially because Dr. Omane Boamah was not just speaking an ordinary fact but an important truth and therefore did not deserve to be insulted for that.

The insult to person of Dr. Omane Boamah over this issue, is an assault to the persons of all the good people of Ghana. It is because of “stupid” intimidations such as these that they have managed to cover their evil tracks all these years. We need to fully expose them in order to be free. We need to grab this particularly stubborn cat by the neck and dip its nose into the offending material that is more than just familiar to it, until it learns "to do it" somewhere else! It is a good sign of the re-awakening spirit of Kwame Nkrumah surrounding the third anniversary celebrations of his centenary, to see the final episodes to the ignominious end of traitors, agents, and assets of the imperialists laid to rest. This is time to turn on the heat. I invite every right thinking Ghanaian to join in this campaign in their own creative ways, to put pressure on Ochere-Darko to do the right thing. And it is important that the contentious issues that rose up be settled dispassionately by our media practitioners. It has serious implications on what the Danquah tradition actually represents. Little wonder we see Ochere-Darko, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, at the end of his wits.

It will be an important service our media practitioners will be doing to the good people of Ghana, to help them see the light and steer themselves away from their miserable hand-to-mouth existence. For Ghana to go forward, we need to begin from the beginning and find out what went wrong. It is often not easy to draw the line where one must begin. That is why I personally find this revelation as a key to understanding the modern history of Ghana, and in particular, the kind of forces represented by the Danquah Institute and their Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo. What is going on therefore can only be seen as a part of the very rare and precious historic “moment of truth” that periodically open the eyes of the people. It heralds the beginning of a new era, and a shift of political direction for the country of Teutonic proportions, it is not just a simple shift from the politics of lies and insults, to the politics of integrity and intelligently accounting for one's position instead of escaping debates through the use of lies and insults, but an irreversible shift independent of arrogant politicians because the public insists on it. This is why the Ghanaian media needs to take on Asare Ochere-Darko.

An important fact that publicly emerged in this year's celebrations is recent publications that have thrown further light on some of the darker pages of our history. As the new light focuses on their dastardly anti-people activities against the sovereignty and independence of Ghana, we see in the line-up to the entirely orchestrated attempt to reverse all the gains of our independence and to set the clock backwards into neo-colonialism, credible stories that help to figure out the heroes and traitors of this country. On the bloc is J.B. Danquah. As it turns out, a book published by Professor Richard Mahoney, a son of former US Ambassador to Ghana Mr. William Mahoney, 1962-1965. claims that Dr. J.B. Danquah went to the US Embassy, after Nkrumah had pardoned Danquah and other detainees on June 2, 1962, to ask “why the funds his family had been receiving during his imprisonment had been cut after his release.” It is strange that Ochere-Darko claims to have read the book and yet got the nerve to deny the accusations and call it “stupid”. Whatever the motivations of J. B. Danquah must have been is one thing, his closeness to the CIA is quite another thing, and Ghanaians must be able to let Ochere-Darko know clearly that talking about that is not stupid. And that he was wrong in the way he comported himself.

The book at the centre of the controversy, which came out at the debate has the title "JFK: Ordeal in Africa". In this book, for those who care to add one to two and arrive at the sum of three, it comes out clearly that J.B. Danquah was a CIA asset. Published in 1983, the book confirms what Nkrumah must have known all along and thus explaining not only why Danquah went to prison, but also gaining a deep understanding of the political orientation and the dark possibilities behind the Danquah Institute itself. It is therefore a fitting tribute to the memory of the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, that one of his detractors gets exposed in no uncertain terms as a CIA asset. I am still waiting for a response from the Danquah Institute as regards the claims I made in a previous article: “J. B. Danquah Was A CIA Asset!” In that article, I argued that there is incontrovertible evidence to that effect that he knew and liked the stipends the CIA was paying to his wife, as to go ahead and to complain to US Ambassador William Mahoney, when Danquah was pardoned by Nkrumah on 02 June 1962, when this was cut. What was Danquah's state of mind, if he did not consider himself as an agent deserving of the stipend? You don't often see people complaining after such “generosity”, without even saying “thank you!”!

I am not going to go into all that again. So far as I am concerned, the issue has been settled that J. B. Danquah was a CIA asset. I have given myself enough room to respond to any challenges to this demand for proper apologies in the name of decency. It is not for nothing that this article is labelled “Part One”. I promise that the “temperature” in these series of articles is bound to rise with each subsequent article, until Ochere-Darko swallows his pride and apologizes for those insults. I know what this can do to the Akufo-Addo campaign, so it is fine with me if Gabby remains adamant! We are not going to succumb to insults and intimidations to keep our traitors under the carpet! If one feels very uncomfortable with the emerging facts, for any other reasons such as family ties, or personal estimation, etc., that is no reason enough to transform oneself into a maniac in a fit of temper tantrums during a live TV and Radio public debate. Mr. Ochere-Darko lost total control over his senses, including his sense of personal comportment, courtesy, Parliamentary language, public debate protocols, civil manners, and ordinary decency.

What makes this even more unacceptable is the fact that the allegations put forward have been proven to be accurate, and dead right on the mark! Why should Ochere-Darko get away with this? My focus now is on the uncivilized and extremely uncouth behaviour by Gabriel Asare Ochere-Darko, and the challenges that this represents in our public discourses, and particularly the role of the media. The fact of the Danquah family receiving stipends from the CIA is public knowledge, thanks to Richard Mahoney. Ochere-Darko should fly to the US and scream “stupid” to Richard Mahoney, and not those of us who believe he has no reason to lie. The fact that Dr. J.B. Danquah was a CIA asset comes out clearly enough in the book. That he was most probably abandoned later on by the CIA is not our business. What right has Ochere-Darko to impose limitations on free speech over issues of serious public interest? This is a matter of public interest, and you do not pursue such a national discourse with insults. Now that we know that what Dr Omane Boamah said was not that stupid, but on the contrary, a statement of fact of immense importance to the discussion on the theme of the Founder's Day. Is it not about time for Mr. Ochere-Darko be asked to render unqualified apologies for comporting himself in a manner that qualified him as a public nuisance?

The media should be invited to put this rude individual's credibility to comport himself in a civilized manner on the line until he does the right thing. This must be done before they bring him again to comment on issues of national importance being debated live on radio and television. We are not asking him to be silenced. We are asking that Ochere-Darko be compelled to do what is proper. We are asking him to render unqualified apologies for his unjustifiable behaviour. Otherwise, it is the media, and not Ochere-Darko who must justify the inclusion of such a character in their programmes. It is no one's fault if someone happens to be a grandson of a CIA spy, and it should not warrant the barrage of insults in what Ochere-Darko himself called an “an intellectual programme”. It is precisely because it is an intellectual programme that Ochere-Darko needs to justify his future inclusion, in the light of such awful performance.

The main issue that is at stake is not just whether or not Ghanaians have a right to be allowed to discuss a matter as important as that without being insulted by Asare Ochere-Darko, but whether or not we need to draw the line as we enter in an electoral year, to ensure that irresponsible and uncouth individuals do not get the chance to inflame the already highly inflammable situation with unguarded statements. If he is not even sorry about this, what is the guarantee that he can not do something worse next time? Our media houses need to stand up to their responsibilities and challenge the use of intemperate language, insults, and encourage the appropriate decorum in our civil discourses particularly on live radio and TV discussions. This is fundamental to the peace and security of this country. Ochere-Darko must be made to apologize or face a media boycott. If he is unfit to meet acceptable standards and expectations of decent human behaviour, he must be barred from decent circles where decent humans congregate.

Let's see how long it takes to get the arrogant Gabby to come to his senses and apologize for his “stupid” insults! I wish to assure Gabby however, that it is in his own interest to do the right thing as quickly as possible, and as loud and as clear! We cannot afford to give up and we will not! Part II follows... And on and on it will go until we see an appropriate apology! I hope that from my own Facebook chat with Gabby in which he arrogantly asked me “Why are you so obsessed with the Danquah Institute?”, he shall not under-estimate the political energy behind such a simple request, in order to cut a long story short. The only way out I saw for Gabby in this predicament was to have honestly admitted the fact that the CIA paid stipends to J.B. Danquah's wife whilst in prison, explained why this was so, and to have left the public in peace to go and find out for themselves! He could then have added, as he seems to explain so eloquently with his “friend of America” excuses, that even if Danquah was a CIA agent, he did it for the good of the nation but not for stipends. And he could have allowed the public to judge for themselves who is really stupid!

At least, some of us could have understood where he was coming from. As matters stand, he does not only have to acknowledge the fact that there is nothing personal in raising an issue of such immense public interest and did not need to be silenced. The Human Rights that Ochere-Darko claims were championed by Danquah includes free speech. And this includes the fact that whether or not a particular spy happens to be anyone's grand-father, people must be free to talk about it in public without being insulted by the grandchildren of these spies. One can hold Danquah in high esteem and allow people to read the book and talk about it without the world coming to an end. So far as Dr. Omane Boamah did not err in calling J.B. Danquah a CIA agent, so far should Ochere-Darko retract. He owes us an apology for trying to suppress vital information by unorthodox means. He must be made to say “I am sorry” to Dr. Omane Boamah, in order to purge himself from the political pariah status he has automatically assumed with these insults!

Help move Ghana forward! Please join us in putting pressure on this stubborn individual to do the right thing!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro,
Member, Pan-Africanist International
-a grammar of Pan-Africanism and its manners of articulation!
http://www.panafricanistinternational.org

*(also known to Kwame Okoampa, the notorious assassin of character, as: "Ali Masmadi Sasabonsam Jehu Shoaboni Appiah, who now presumptuously and conveniently goes by the name of Nana Akyea-Mensah, the name of a historic man the likes of whose dignity and ineffable cynosure that SOB would never encounter among the male members of his largely pathologically skirt-chasing and pedophiliac family." See: A Typical Ghanaian Prophet, Feature Article | Thu, 21 Jul 2011, by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.)