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General News of Sunday, 10 May 2015

Source: The Catalyst Newspaper

Nyaho Tamakloe: Blame Akufo-Addo for disorder in NPP

Nyaho Tamakloe, is in tears over the sordid state of affairs in the opposition party in recent times and says the blame should be landed squarely at the doorstep of Mr. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who seems to be enjoying the apparent lack of order within the party at the highest level of its leadership.

“NPP is in trouble,” Dr Nyaho Tamakloe lamented in an interview with Radio Gold’s Alhassan Suhuyini on Wednesday, pointing to leadership failure on the part of Nana Akufo-Addo, as he expressed disdain over attempts to undermine the party’s Chairman, Mr Paul Afoko and General Secretary, Mr Kwabena Agyapong, coupled with the rising surge in tribal bigotry in the Akufo-Addo-led opposition party.

Afoko out of country, Agyapong eating fufu in Kumasi Dr Nyaho Tamakloe was surprised that Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo was present at a hurriedly arranged National Steering Committee meeting to discuss the vetting process for parliamentary aspirants.

The meeting which was presided over by the party’s First Vice Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay, was without the knowledge of the chairman and general secretary whose legitimate duty it is to organise such meetings. “Tell them, I am eating fufu in Kumasi. I don’t know anything about this meeting,” was Mr Agyapong’s reaction in a media interview at the shock of hearing the news about the ‘coup’ against him and the chairman who was out of the country at the time, as he questioned the need to organise a meeting so urgently that it could not wait for the return of the party chairman.

In the NPP, Steering Committee meetings are organized by the chairman through the general secretary. Even though in his absence, the first national vice chairman can chair meetings, many have expressed disgust that the chairman and general secretary were totally kept in the dark about the meeting, and worse of all that it was organized with the full blessings of Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo, who did not only support the act of disorder but was physically present at the ‘illegal’ meeting.

‘Fantes are fools’ comment Tribal bigotry has reached a crescendo in the NPP and Dr Nyaho Tamakloe, who is a known advocate for ethnic tolerance within the party, is also disappointed about the recent tribal comments made by Eugene Boakye Antwi, a member of the national council of the party, directed at Fantes.

He expressed disbelief that the Akufo-Addo aid could still go out of his way to insult Fantes based on their ethnicity despite the negative image given to the NPP from such tribal comments by some leading members of the party in recent times.

Eugene Boakye Antwi, who has the intention of contesting Hon Isaac Osei, in the NPP primaries for the Subin constituency in Ashanti region, has said that his opponent is a fool since he has Fante blood in him, indicating that Fantes are fools.

Dr Nyaho Tamakloe, who has Ewe and Ga ethnic backgrounds, did not mince words in condemning the incendiary comments of the Akufo-Addo aid who is an ethnic Ashanti. The NPP guru, who stated emphatically that he would continue to speak his mind and nobody can sack him from the NPP, questioned the stony silence of the NPP flagbearer in the wake of flagrant display of tribal bigotry in the party under his watch.

According to him, when the elder fails in his duty to keep the children in check, there is lack of discipline and order in the home, stressing the NPP is in trouble today because its leader, Mr Nana Akufo-Addo, is failing in his duty to ensure the right things are done.

‘Northerners are sheep, stupid’ comment As if his insult of Fantes as fools is not bad enough, Eugene Boakye Antwi has been caught on another tape insulting northerners as being stupid and behaving like sheep. This latest tape has exposed the true character of the NPP guru following a veil apology he rendered regarding his insult of Fantes saying he made the comments based on “traditional stereotypes.”

Endorsement of tribal bigotry The NPP flagbearer has been accused of showing his tacit approval for tribal bigotry in the NPP because he has not once condemned the act engaged in by leading members of his party with impunity, some of whom are his close allies.

He has rather endorsed such statements, apart from the fact that he had made similar comments himself.

The NPP flagbearer is regarded as having opened the floodgate for the open display of tribal bigotry in the NPP with his infamous ‘yen akanfuo/all-die-be-die’ comments. Not too long ago, he stated his approval of Mr Yaw Osafo Marfo’s comments that only persons from the five Akan speaking regions in Ghana have the right to rule the country because only these are the regions which produce all the country’s natural resources, and that the ‘indigenes’ must manage these resources.

Mr Nana Akufo-Addo shockingly told Starr FM recently that Mr Osafo Marfo was right because his comment is “the reality.” He further reiterated belief in his ‘all-die-be-die/yen akanfuo’ comments but that he regrets the fact that he did not get the opportunity to explain it well enough to Ghanaians.

Ignore Nyaho Eugene Boakye Antwi on 21st February 2014, according to myjoyonline’s Adwoa Gyasiwaa, accused Dr Nyaho Tamakloe of having “…compromised his integrity and betrayed the principles that make him a true NPP member” and urged his party members to ignore anything he says.

Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe came under a barrage of attacks for suggesting that the composition of the NPP’s vetting committee was not a fair representation of the various ethnic groupings within the party. The report stated further: “Nyaho-Tamakloe is a sell-out; he should continue to stay where he is and do the propaganda because whatever he says will be treated with the contempt it deserves” he added.

“Eugene Boakye Antwi indicated that everyone in the NPP irrespective of their ethnic background is treated equally therefore “if he [Nyaho-Tamakloe] has inferiority complex; he should deal with it”.

“Eugene Antwi said leadership will not hesitate to “expel” Nyaho-Tamakloe from the NPP if he continues to bring the name of the party into disrepute. "We are protecting this political vehicle [NPP] jealously and zealously and will deal with anyone who will seek to run it down. People have sacrificed a lot for this party so Nyaho Tamakloe cannot hold the NPP to ransom" he stressed.”

No one can expel me Dr Nyaho Tamakloe stated categorically on Wednesday that he would continue to speak his mind about developments within the NPP and nobody would dare try to expel him from the party.