Kufuor vindicates Asiedu Nketia in Merbank saga - NDC

A member of the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) communication team wants the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to offer an unqualified apology to the ruling party for insults rained on them in the run-up to the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Equity Fund.

Prior to the take-over of Merchant Bank’s 90% shares by Fortiz for GHc90 million, members of the NPP found it extremely intriguing that government could turn down higher bids from multinational companies for lower percentage shares.

The sale of the bank became a running debate and a majority of NPP MP’s openly voiced out their views. They raised several points, but their centralized message was that the sale of Merchant Bank to Private Equity Fund, Fortiz, was simply a fraudulent deal.

But now, some members of the NPP are not comfortable with the decision of former President Kufuor and his former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, to grace the official rebranding ceremony of Merchant Bank- now Universal Merchant Bank (UMB). The disgruntled NPP members have described the move as an act of betrayal.

However, with the tables seemingly turned, appendages of the National Democratic Congress say the presence of former President Kufuor and Kwadwo Mpiani at the function vindicates the General Secretary of the ruling party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who came under fire for having cautioned the opposition to rather point accusing fingers at the former President for granting a loan to Ibrahim Mahama during his tenure.

Speaking on Okay Fm’s Ghana Decides program, an NDC communicator, Godwin Ako-Gunn, posited that the truth has finally come out as the presence of Ex-President Kufuor at the launch has proven that the brother of President Mahama deserved the loan. He adds that, it is clear that President Mahama did not use his position to unduly help his brother as alleged by some members of the NPP.

“…..Asiedu Nketia has been vindicated…..NPP used to call Fortiz as ‘For thieves;’ Asiedu Nketia warned the opposition to be circumspect with their utterances because the loan to Ibrahim which supposedly crippled Merchant Bank was given during the tenure of Ex-President Kufuor...for Ex-President Kufuor and his former Chief of Staff to be in their best attire to grace the launch of Universal Merchant Bank means that the program meant so much to him…don’t forget he gave the huge loan to Ibrahim without any collateral or any guarantee,” he asserted.