Randy Abbey resurrects dead 'coffee shop mafia'

As if he has foreseen it in his analysis, veteran Ghanaian journalist and social commentator, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Junior, last Saturday, warned President Mahama to be wary of his new friends who have suddenly jumped to him after he assumed the mantle of leadership of the country on July 24th, 2012.

Speaking on the Saturday current affairs program on the Accra-based Radio Gold, the managing editor of the Insight newspaper admonished the President to go back and look for his old friends as the new ones have started deserting him in the middle of an epic battle, obviously positioning themselves for a potential change of power in the 2016 election.

While the political and media savvy Kwesi Pratt was categorical that some of those unfaithful friends of the President include those advising him on the economy, intelligence available to this paper suggests that hordes of them are in the media, among them, members of the hitherto dreaded Coffee Shop Mafia.

President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) government must therefore gird their loins in the coming days as information available to The aL-hAJJ indicates that his ‘friends’ and trusted lieutenants in the media are in the process of reviving the defunct opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) media and propaganda outfit, Coffee Shop Mafia (CSM), to strategically position themselves in anticipation of his (Mahama) government’s potential loss of power in 2016.

Leading the move is no other person than Mr. Randy Abbey, the host of Metro-TV’s Good-morning Ghana, a self-confessed confidant of President Mahama and his household.

Overly worried about the messy state of their darling party, the NPP on whose ticket some of them almost contested as parliamentary candidates, members of the once dreaded anti-NDC group are said to be liaising and strategizing on how to resuscitate the Labone- based group to aid the NPP come back to power in 2016.

Akin to the Biblical passage of Mark 14:66-72 where Peter disowned Jesus three times when the latter was in captivity, President Mahama’s trusted pal, Randy Abbey, who is a pillar in CSM, may soon end his romance with Ghana’s Chief Executive as he is said to be neck deep in activities to revive the once powerful anti-NDC group purposely set by once ‘mighty’ President Kufuor at Ada in January 2001 with the important assignment of implementing Senior Minister J.H Mensah’s fatwa to destroy the NDC, then in opposition.

Randy Abbey, the Kpando Hearts of Lions President, was a virulent critic of the National Democratic Congress until the ascension of President Mahama to the pantheon of political leadership of the country in the middle of 2012, after the unfortunate demise of Prez Mills.

The enterprising broadcaster dropped the hint of the re-grouping of the Coffee Shop Mafia on the Monday, July 7, 2014, edition of “Good Morning Ghana”.

Bubbling with joy while announcing the 60th birthday of the ‘Commandant’ of the CSM, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako and his ‘son’ Anas Aremeyaw Anas; Randy Abbey gave a narration on how the mafia group operated and his association with the Managing Editor of New Crusading Guide.

Taking listeners through a lecture on the activities of the CSM, Randy Abbey stated “Today, the good good news…JJ (John Jinapor) do you share a birthday with any of your kids, your dad…? He is not his biological son, but he is his son in all respect. I’m talking about Anas Aremeyaw Anas…do you know he shares a birthday with Kweku Baako? Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Kweku Baako share the same birthday. " "Today is their birthday. Anas turn 36 today; Kweku turns 60, yes-eventually. So Kweku is 60 years old…so Kweku 60, the magical 60 is here with him today and Anas Aremeyaw Anas, 36, he has a little catchup to do, but he has achieved a lot at a relatively younger age; today is their birthday. So those who didn’t know Anas and his father share the same birthday.

"He is not that young. A lot of people think Anas is like some 30 year old…so it’s their birthday today…if you hold a membership card to the coffee shop mafia; you can clear that with Jimmy Allotey…if you have a membership card then…I mean you’ll be on our platform so you’ll know where we’ll be hanging out this afternoon, and the time and then we’ll have a big do later in town maybe over the weekend. The big bash for the 60, we’ll have our rituals today. So if you’ve not seen the coffee shop mafia rituals, you can come and stand at the car park and watch and see how we do it…if you’re not a member, you can apply through Kwame Sefa Kai, he is the speaker if you want to be a member.

"The only person who I know will not apply and even if he applies we’ll not accept him is Alhaji A B A Fuseini; in fact he gave us the title coffee shop mafia…it was given to us by the deputy Northern regional minister, Alhaji A B A Fuseini…He (Kweku Baako) has asked me to announced to the whole world …gifts are welcomed. I’ve been officially designated to receive all the gifts on his behalf, so if you have any gift for Anas or Kweku Baako, kindly send them to me. I’ll say this, I feel very privileged to be one of the closest people to Kweku Baako, I mean consider even our age difference; they had done about 10, 15-20 years before some of us started…I’ll say it unashamedly that of all the people,;I have friends in the media and everywhere, but he is one of the people who I trust a 101%. I can sleep with both eyes opened or closed; whichever way, I trust him, let just say that he is one of the people I trust, same for Anas. I mean, I’m excited that I’m one of the people he also trusts. Today, I’m very excited. Ogyam, I’m very happy for you.”

While many Ghanaians thought Randy Abbey ended his “marriage” with his former colleagues at Coffee Shop Mafia and by extension, the NPP; when he started performing almost all the political household chores of President Mahama immediately the latter was elected president, the former boss of the Referees Appointment Committee boastfully told his audience of his constant interactions with other members of the group.

He was not explicit with his pronouncement regarding the revival of the mafia group, which was specifically created by the NPP to use the media to terrorize and destroy the NDC founder Jerry Rawlings and help disintegrate the party. Randy Abbey on the program also gave clear indications of members of the group coming together again and possibly recruiting new members after many years of hibernation.

The CSM, which had the likes of Kweku Baako, Randy Abbey, Kwame Sefa Kai, Sonnie Decker Paul Adom Otchere and Alfred Ogbamey among others, suffered a fatal blow after the NPP lost power in 2008. The dejected members of the group went their separate ways to fend for themselves under what they perceived to be an unfriendly NDC government.

Though after their breakup they did their own damage to the NDC separately until the demise of President Mills in July 2012 when some of them partially ‘abandoned’ the NPP to be doing the bidding of the government under the party they once wished dead.

While other members were ‘scavenging’ for greener pastures in the NDC government, Randy Abbey was ‘blessed’ as his new found friend President Mahama was sworn in as acting president after the sudden death of Prof Mills, and later elected president in a very grueling election whose results had to be settled later at the Supreme Court.

However, Randy, who in spite of his closeness to President Mahama has never publicly endorsed or officially joined the NDC is said to have started resenting the ruling party, even as he claimed to be playing a professional ‘watchman’ role at President Mahama’s residence.

In response to his critics who accused him of being a self-seeking and stomach media practitioner, Randy Abbey has often stated that he loves President Mahama and the Mahama family and not the NDC.

Even with this statement, he is yet to be seen openly defending his supposed friend, President Mahama. What he has been good at is to ostensibly take a middle line in an issue while his friend, whose house he seeks his livelihood, is debased and his character assassinated daily by the opposition NPP and their media surrogates.

With this posturing, analysts believe, it is not surprising that he is working around the clock to reorganize his pro-NPP media spin group in anticipation of Akufo-Addo victory against President Mahama in 2016.