Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP Flag bearer
The campaign team of the NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo has dismissed claims by Ghana’s Ambassador to Namibia that their candidate told him in a private conversation that a non-Akan cannot lead the party.
According to the spokesperson for the former attorney general, Mustapha Hamid, the NPP flagbearer never had a private conversation with the former Accra Daily Mail publisher to discuss the tribal issues he raised in his latest statement to the media.
Mr. Attah, who used to be a staunch NPP leading personality, said Nana Addo thrust those words at him following his (Attah’s) support for the late Aliu Mahama during the 2008 NPP flag bearer race.
“I do recollect very clearly, as if it happened only yesterday, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo invited me to his office at Ridge near the offices of the Electoral Commission. I honoured the invitation, not knowing what to expect. The outcome was one of the most revealing encounters I have ever had with a Ghanaian politician. He raised a number of issues and concluded on my “support” for the late Vice President. On that, this is what he told me,” Ambassador Attah said in a statement to StarrFMonline.com.
He continued: “The words have been indelibly etched on my conscience: “Harruna, your support for Aliu was flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan leadership, you are wrong.” He went on to expatiate on the theme, but with my mind reeling at this blatant and brazen ethnocentricity, nothing else really mattered to me again. When I left, I confided in a few people, mainly family and friends, as witnesses. I received all manner of suggestions on how to handle this “bombshell” and indeed one family member high up in the NPP even suggested that I take it up with President Kufuor. The frightening fundamental message was clear: No non-Akan should dream of leading the NPP as Presidential Candidate.”
Speaking to Starr News’ Wilberforce Asare, Mr. Hamid described the claims as false and total fabrication.
“The fact is that he is telling a lie. It is a total fabrication, no such conversation took place between him and Akufo-Addo. You should credit Akufo-Addo with some intelligence. If the man dislikes Northerners, and he’s telling that to northerners? When he is in the political battle and has been running presidential primaries since 1998. It means that he had an ambition that predates the 2007 date that Harruna Attah alleges that the conversation took place.
“So for somebody to want to be President and be telling Northerners in their face that I dislike you and that you cannot lead our party; it’s so childish and myopic, it is not true,” he said.