Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Obiri-Boahen
Folks, what the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, said about the 50 billion Cedis that the Akufo-Addo government pumped into the NPP’s holding of its congress in Cape Coast has opened a can of worms that deepens suspicions and confirms the uselessness of the NPP and its government in fighting corruption.
The latest news report has it that Obiri Boahen has been “banned” by the NPP’s Disciplinary Committee from speaking to the press (See https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Don-t-speak-to-the-media-NPP-orders-Obiri-Boahen-632415).
I am piqued. How shallow-minded and politically uncouth can’t these NPP people be? Banning Obiri Boahen from talking to the press? To what effect? That he won’t shoot his mouth on issues he knows about that bother him and will anger Ghanaians if disclosed? Why this gagging, anyway?
What did Obiri Boahen say that wasn’t true, anyway? Is gagging him the best move to make? Indeed, these NPP people are busily constructing swords of all dimensions that they will fall upon in the fullness of time.
By imposing such a ban on Obiri Boahen, they have opened themselves up for more scrutiny. Too much discrimination within the party’s ranks. What for could be anybody’s guess.
When Paul Afoko, Kwabena Agyepong, and Sammy Crabbe, among others, were found to have hit hard at the NPP, they were suspended. They were punished for doing what their accusers considered endangered the NPP and Akufo-Addo’s bid to win Election 2016. No amount of pressure or appeal has helped change the situation for them to be reinstated. Why weren’t they “banned” from airing their views publicly instead of being suspended and shoved far away?
Now, it is the turn of Obiri Boahen, whose “okro-mouth” has dented the Akufo-Addo government’s image beyond measure. What he revealed has hurt it. If it has no element of truth, the government could have simply denied it openly and issued a statement to prove why. Interestingly, no official denial came from the government. All that happened was a way to manipulate the situation to present Obiri Boahen as talking when he shouldn’t have. Whaaaaaaaaaaat? This show of double standards makes Team Akufo-Addo a laughing stock.
Why “ban” him from talking to the media as a punishment instead of suspending him as well? His offence is more damaging than what sent Afoko, Agyepong, and Crabbe to the doldrums in the NPP’s workings. What the NPP leaders are afraid to face in their dealing with Obiri Boahen will ricochet to hurt them and their cabal’s interests.
How can Akufo-Addo lead the fight against corruption when his own house is heavily immersed in corruption? What Obiri Boahen revealed says it all. And choosing to ban him from speaking openly deepens suspicions and scorn for the government.
If there were wise people in this NPP government and the party itself to see the ebbing of the goodwill that favoured Akufo-Addo at the 2016 polls and how it has dwindled in just one year of his tenure, they should be advising him on how to do things to claw back that goodwill.
All the populist moves being made won’t restore that lost ground. I wish that the government would hasten slowly so it doesn’t dig itself deeper into the hole. Of course, it won’t.
Having satisfied itself that it is the be-it-all-and-end-it for Ghana’s fate, it will do as it wishes, supported by the Rawlingses and Kufuors whose tenure didn’t get Ghana out of the woods but established firm structures for them to continue milking Ghana. They are doing all they can to protect their turf. Too bad for Ghana.
(And to hear the nuisance called Martin Amidu claiming that “Ghana is not a milking cow” really annoys me to seek his head!!).
Folks, now that Obiri Boahen has been gagged, we must know that there is something brewing that the Akufo-Addo government and the NPP cabal fear. Gagging him won’t solve that problem.
There are many others who will open up when they cannot contain it anymore. We wait for them. Even before then, can’t we see what has befallen the village-boy, Abronye DC as a precursor of internally generated measures for some kind of “Armageddon” in the NPP?
He has openly accused the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister of underhand measures that border on corruption. He has openly called for the Minister to be investigated and action taken against him. Akufo-Addo turned a big deaf ear to his appeal. What happened?
Some kind of situation was created to rope him and the fear of God put in him. Now, he can’t even compete for his position as the Youth Organizer of the NPP in the Brong-Ahafo Region. Just for seeking that the right thing be done to support Akufo-Addo’s rhetoric on fighting corruption in Ghana?
A careful observer of the situation unfolding under Akufo-Addo can easily conclude that events that support his hidden agenda are quickly reacted to while those that speak to the reality on the ground are earmarked for some devilish reaction.
Suspending the Upper East regional Minister over some slight event involving NADMO is one instance. Yet, in other parts of the country where his bootlickers have done worse, he hasn’t deigned it politically reasonable to act. What sort of leader is that? Indeed, Mo Ibrahim has a lot of capital here!!
Folks, there is a lot to comment on within the context of the double standards shown by the NPP cabal in reaction to the Obiri Boahen instance. I have had my say. The rest will up for conjecture. In the end, nothing will go for nothing. Those sowing the seeds of discord now should be prepared for the bitter harvest.
I shall return