General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia has refuted suggestions that he is the man in a colonial suit standing by former President Jerry John Rawlings as captured in a photo at a public event during the revolution days.

The image of a man believed to be a translator to the former military leader has been trending for close to decade now after it surfaced during the presidential primaries of NDC in 2011 resulting in the formation of groups like Friend of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR) Get Atta Mills Endorsed (GAME).

Many claimed it was the General Mosquito as fondly referred to in politics but breaking his silence about the image for the first time in an interview MyNewsGh.com, he revealed that the person was rather an information officer then in the Brong Ahafo Region and would be surprised if he is not late.

“Anyone who looks at that image critically will see that the man on it is older than me. He was an information officer at Sunyani Regional Office and as at that time, I was not someone who could even get closer to the former President. It was during the early part of the revolution”, he revealed.

Mosquito said he is surprised that people put out such an image when he was just a mere member of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) who had rarely met the then leader at public events.

He explained that the image was among others used by some elements within the party as an image-smearing campaign against him and to also create division between him and the NDC founder.

“They first started by putting out headlines that I referred to him as a barking dog but when that failed they started putting out such images that I was his interpreter and after that he realized that I was good at politics thereby introducing me into politics”, he revealed.