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Opinions of Sunday, 12 May 2013

Columnist: Jackson, Margaret

Sammy Awuku: The Liar In Chief

By Margaret Jackson

May 7, 2013

It is very sad when you see a budding young man involved in self destructive tendencies. But your apprehension heightens when you see that, that young man is making no effort to redeem himself, but rather continues to edge towards the cliff.

Sammy Awuku, a deputy communications director of the NPP, easily comes to mind if you decide to search your immediate parameters or circuit to find any young man who has taken to solid, unfounded lies as his permanent stock of trade.

Politics has always been about beating your opponent. That is why facts are sometimes twisted by political opponents just to gain the upper hand. This has tended to be the norm in all democratic institutions. You may not like it, but there is little that you can do about it.

But if in your anxiety to please your political bosses and put your political opponents on the defensive, you consistently lie about everything under the sun, you stink even to the very people you are trying to please.

Sammy Awuku could have been a fine politician, but he twists everything he can possibly think of, even when there is no reason to do so. He has repeatedly lied and lied and lied and no one can ever guess the day this guy would ever speak the truth again.

Ghana almost exploded into chaotic scenes on December 8, 2012, when Sammy Awuku and some NPP leaders, incited some NPP hooligans to besiege the officers an Israeli company, STL, with false claims that the Electoral Commission (EC) aided by the NDC has commissioned STL to aid in the transmission of the election results with the view to tilting the results in favour of the NDC.

This terrible incident happened when the results of certain constituencies started trickling in and the NPP realized that they were losing badly in most of the regions. Sammy Awuku’s lie about STL created a tensed atmosphere which put the country on the brink as scores of military and police personnel stormed the offices of STL to curtail any possible bloodshed.

No amount of explanation could cool down the pent up feelings of the NPP supporters as they persisted and pushed that STL was involved in transmogrifying of the election results trickling in.

The situation was so volatile that the AU Observer Mission led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo rushed to the place to help reason with the NPP supporters led by Sammy Awuku, but to no avail. The Ghana National Peace Council led by Most Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante, was also forced to dart to the scene to help avoid any potential havoc.

Sammy Awuku did not stop there, but also incited another batch of NPP supporters to cordon off the offices of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) threatening to burn it down and lynch Mr Kofi Portuphy, the Director of NADMO and Election Director of the NDC, for also hiding some ballot boxes in the offices of NADMO.

The NPP felt so strong about this false evidence by Sammy Awuku that when they filed their petition challenging the results of the 2012 Election they cited the incident at the STL as one of their key evidence. In fact, the NPP were so sure of this false believe that they even repeated it when they filed their affidavits with the Supreme Court claiming that STL engaged in fraud to convert the results into bigger figures in favour of President Mahama.

But on Tuesday April 30, 2013, when Mr Tsatsu Tsikata who was cross-examining Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, NPP’s evidence in chief, sought to bring the STL issue up, to the surprise of everybody the NPP blinked. Their lead counsel, Philip “Panther” Addison suddenly sprung up and blurred out that they have abandoned that allegation against the STL due to lack of evidence.

It is not long ago when Sammy Awuku in his usual boisterous mood told some NPP supporters that Nana Akufo-Addo was going to be crowned president-elect by Easter. Where Awuku got this timeline from, only a guy with such a lying tongue can tell. But Sammy Awuku said it, and he has no regrets making such a lousy statement since Easter has come and gone but Nana Akufo-Addo still continues to sit and doze off in court in the on-going Supreme Court challenge to the 2012 Presidential Election .

But since a leopard can’t change its spots, Sammy Awuku is back to his old tricks and buffoonery. This time it’s not about Akufo-Addo being crowned the president-elect by the Supreme Court justices.

This time round, Sammy Awuku bared his mouth to spew that the NDC has started campaigning in anticipation of a possible Supreme Court cancellation of the results of some polling stations. Some wishful thinking!

Only God knows where Sammy Awuku has been getting these scoops from. The liar-in-chief has always something to say to further dent his name. And this has greatly destroyed his credibility even among the NPP supporters.

There seems to be no ending in sight for Sammy Awuku as telling fat lies has become part and parcel of him and perhaps he believes that such acts make him popular.

If Akufo-Addo was not crowned the president-elect by Easter by the Supreme Court justices, what makes Sammy Awuku believe that they are going to cancel the results of some polling stations and order a re-run?

Sammy Awuku can rehabilitate himself when he begins a soul searching to determine what is wrong with him. And it is only Sammy Awuku who can save Sammy Awuku.

magjackson80@yahoo.com http://majjacks80.blogspot.com