Oboshie’s ¢6 Billion Propaganda Cash Exposed

*Abu Jinakpor, John Boadu and Anthony Karbo Also Named In Secret Documents *

The Herald’s investigations into “The Mind Game” by politicians is exposing Nana Akomea and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as organization guilty of bribing journalists and others to paint favourable image of itself to Ghanaians while serving in government with Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor as President.

A damning document in the custody of The Herald reveal how journalists, media houses and party boys, including Abu Jinapor, John Boadu and Anthony Karbo were paid a total of ¢6 billion, 396 million to do propaganda work for the NPP, in the run-up to the 2008 elections.

The document contains names, phone numbers and the e-mail addresses of those who were engaged for the propaganda work.

The 14-page document, titled “Private & Confidential,” and dated “28 January, 2008,” betrays the recent cry by Nana Akomea that the Deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal, was taped promising journalists and others in the upper East Region, monies, cars and other packages, as perhaps rather, “the executioner pissing in his pants at the sight of a knife”.

The secret memo which was written by Oboshie Sai Coffie, one of the Ministers of Information who served in Mr. Kufuor’s regime, was sent to the then National Security Co-ordinator, Dr. Sam G. Amoo, requesting for GH¢639, 600 (¢6 billion, 396 million)“ to meet the cost of monitoring, collecting and disseminating information on Government and bearing on national security”.

The memo drew the attention of Dr. Amoo to the impending 2008 general elections, saying “there is the need to further enhance our efforts to monitor, collate and provide the right information to the general public to counter bountiful negative and potentially dangerous information that can stir trouble”.

To justify her request, Miss Coffie stated that “on radio, television, newspaper and other difficult-to –handle media, a number of individuals and groups have sought to denigrate government in extremely negative ways”.

According to her, “the internet and radio, just to give two examples, are fertile grounds for faceless individuals, locally and externally, to provide negative information about government that needs to be monitored and created upon”.

She continued: “As an ongoing practice and part of our communications strategy, we put together, and have dealt with a number of groups that serve as monitors, responders, and propagators to help counteract such anti-government activities”.

She listed the teams that would be engaged in the information dissemination, monitoring, and collection and the cost involved per month as follows GRID (forming the bulk of information and communications Strategy activities) GH¢25,700.00; PRIM (PR & Information Management Team-Regional), GH¢21,200, having 96 people as team members; Ist Responders, GH¢3,900, consisting of 15 people and Bloggers, GH¢ 2,500, being made up of five people.

The cost of payment of these people a month makes up to GH¢53,300.00 (¢530, 3 million). Prominent among the list of 1st Responders are Mr. Abu Jinapor, currently an aide to Nana Addo-Dankwah Akufo –Addo, flagbearer of the NPP for the 2012 general elections, Anthony Abeyifa Karbo, currently the NPP National Youth Organizer and a certain Nana Ampratwum of the Ashanti Region; it is not clear whether he is the journalist who reports for Joy FM in Kumasi.

These people were among the 1st Responders-15 in number- who were to be collecting GH¢250.00 a month. Messrs Jinapor and Karbo were national co-ordinator of media. Nana Ampratwum was the co-ordinator for the Ashanti Region.

The budget proposed for Bloggers for a month was a monthly allowance of ¢12,000,000; internet Access fee of ¢1,800,000.00; transportation fare of ¢5,400,000.00’snap cards to facilitate communication between them-¢900,000.00 and contingencies of ¢4,000,000.00.