Wikileaks: Ben Ephson On Gabby

Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, was yesterday plunged into a public relations nightmare when the editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson, finally broke his silence on the latest release of international whistle blower site, Wikileaks

Confirming to affirm the site’s revelation that Gabby was an avid manipulator, Uncle Ben, as he is affectionately called, told Asempa FM, an Accra based radio station, that Mr. Otchere-Darko enticed him with $20,000 to skew opinion polls to favour the NPP in the run-up to the 2008 general elections. In a Monday interview on Joy FM, Ben Ephson categorically stated that Gabby Otchere-Darko approached him to tailor the results of his poll to make the NPP look good in the eyes of the electorate.

However, in an interview on Citi FM, Gabby rehearsed his expected denial, claiming that: “I never tried to bribe Ben Ephson with any money, whether with $20,000 dollars or anything. Ben is alleged to have said that and I think that it is only fair that he comes out to say what he said or did not say. I never got in touch with Ben Ephson about any opinion in favour of the NPP.” However, the release dangles huge question marks on the credibility of Gabby Otchere-Darko and his Danquah Institute, which has long had a signature trait as gatherers of election polls that always place the New Patriotic Party in the lead.

Ben Ephson also revealed that Gabby Otchere-Darko’s party tried to get the names of polling agents of other parties.

The NPP, he said, had wanted to use this information to bribe agents, and was willing to pay $1,000 for polling agents to abet vote rigging.

Again, Gabby denied the allegation on behalf of his party.

However, Uncle Ben held tightly to his gun, insisting that the NPP attempted a bribing spree in the 2008 elections.

In a fierce argument on radio, the Daily Dispatch editor pointed out to Gabby that he would not gain anything by leaking such information to American diplomats if he was not offered anything.

Mr. Otchere-Darko, at this stage, took to circumvention, claiming for the first time ever that the renowned pollster rather approached him for money to conduct pre-election opinion polls when Ben Ephson ran out of funds.

The senior NPP member claimed that the only meeting between him and Ben Ephson was after the first round of elections and not prior to the election, as reported by Wikileaks and Ben Ephson.

Mr. Ephson is reported in the leaked US Embassy in Ghana cable to have said quite openly that the NPP had tried to bribe him with at least $20,000 to produce a poll favorable to them and named the party official offering the money as Gabby Otchere-Darko, a cousin of the party's candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo. The revelation dovetails a tall list of criminalities that were allegedly perpetrated by then incumbent New Patriotic Party in 2008, including Samuel Atta Akyea’s connivance with the Chief Justice to subvert the results of the elections to maintain the NPP in office.

Mr. Ephson maintained a stiff silence on the issue after it was initially published until he recently decided clear the air