'Rubbish' - Nitiwul slams Minority, Kevin Taylor over 'Jubilee House mercenaries'

Defense Minister Dominic Nitiwul has dismissed a call for a probe by the Minority Caucus in Parliament concerning the alleged training of mercenaries at the Jubilee House as part of the government's plans towards the 2024 elections.

Nitiwul described the allegation, first published by US-based social commentator, Kevin Taylor; as "rubbish" stressing that the government had no such plans whatsoever.

He told journalists in Parliament on November 8, just after a press conference by the Minority that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was committed to handing over to a duly elected president in 2025.

“Let me state to you that this president will hand over to the duly elected president of Ghana on the 7th of January 2025. The duly elected president will be chosen by the people of Ghana.

"Nobody will interfere in the choice of the people of Ghana. Not from the military, not from the police, not from any politician,” Nitiwul stressed.

He further critiqued the source of the Minority's claim, describing Kevin Taylor as someone engaged in yellow journalism and one who did not merit being taken seriously.

“When the Minority says that a certain Kevin Taylor, who, I believe, you all know, is engaged in yellow journalism and should not be taken seriously, goes out there to make such huge allegations without substance and the opposition in parliament, without any shred of evidence, will say that we are recruiting and training mercenaries … no such thing has taken place.

“This government has not brought anybody into the Jubilee House, who is not a soldier, who is not a police, or who is not into national security. We have not done it since we came to power and we don’t intend to do it”, he stressed.

Taylor alleged in one of his broadcasts last week that a container of arms had been shipped into the country and deposited at the presidency and that it was part of plans by the NPP to raise a private army for electoral purposes.

The governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, in a statement of November 3, addressed the claims, also dismissing them as mad rantings of the New York-based commentator.

"His recent episode makes spurious and reckless allegations that the New Patriotic Party plans to raise a private army to unleash violence in the 2024 elections.

"Kevin Taylor, over the years, has exhibited characteristics of a classic psychopath in his rantings," the statement read in part.

Taylor runs what he says is a socio-political weekday broadcast that beams on YouTube and several Facebook pages.

SARA/PEN