Opinions of Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Columnist: Boateng, Chris Gyamfi

Akuffo Addo: "Yenim no firi tete " as a sore loser

Akuffo Addo and his surrogates who follow him blindly would want unsuspecting Ghanaians to think he is an accomplished politician who has naturally being ordained to rule them. Indeed, his NPP kumbaya singers tout and enumerate his credentials dubbing him “yenim no firir tete”, loosely translated to mean he’s been know for a long while. Interestingly, his praise singers do not tell us what his known for but careful and objective observers can only describe the man as a heartless, and coldhearted selfish individual who engage in irresponsible and violent, as well as polarizing acts and statements in order to realizing his political dream. Otherwise, how can a man who wants to rule a whole nation appeals to only a section of the citizenry-his Akan enclave, culminating in his shameful “yen Akanfuo” (we the Akans) and violent prone “all-die-be-die” statement?

Akuffo Addo has codenamed himself “yenim no firi tete” and I’ve previously noted, non-NPP Ghanaians don’t know for any worthy accomplishments except for organizing and leading violent and deadly demonstrations as a means of blackmailing and destabilizing governments as one of his followers mentioned to me recently. In fact, Akuffo Addo is not noted for any tangible achievements but we surely know his track record of failures for the eight years that he served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice when his NPP was in power. For the reasons assigned below, we can say that we don’t know the man from “tete” but we do know that he was a sore loser for eight years and therefore does not and should not be given the mandate to rule our peace-loving and beautiful Ghana where we are striving hard to shrug off the “Cocaine Coast” that the country was christened with when he was the A-G and Foreign Minister.

1. Akuffo Addo was a leading member of NPP and practically the presidential candidate when tons of cocaine got missing from the police headquarters under CCTV. Did Nana Akuffo Addo make any comments on such a glaring negligence, if not an act of criminal conspiracy? Or did he make efforts to apprehend the culprits? What did he know about this daylight robbery as A-G?

2. Benjilo was a hardened drug dealer in the 1990s. That drug criminal was arrested, tried jailed by a court of competent jurisdiction and his drug-funded property in Accra confiscated. During the eight years of NPP rule, part of which Nana Addo served as Attorney-General, Benjilo's property was de-confiscated. Did Akuffo Addo know that drug-dealing was a crime when he championed the de-confiscation of Benjilo's property?

3. Why did Akufo-Addo, as Attorney General, oversee the de-confiscation of frozen assets of Raymond Amankwah, a reputed global Cocaine Baron? And how did Raymond Amankwaa come in possession of Ghana Diplomatic passport (s) and roamed the world until he was napped in Brazil?

4. Did he not know that by literally presiding over that act, a terrible example was set and cocaine barons all over the globe were sent a signal that the new government of Ghana was in bed with drug peddling and that the government had no problem with the trafficking of narcotic drugs?

5. Did the fact that Raymond Amankwah was a relative of Akufo-Addo in anyway influence that decision?

7. Was Raymond Amankwah until his arrest in Brazil, not associated with Akufo-Addo's 2008 campaign?

8. Was Akufo-Addo not the Attorney General in the year 2001, when the state prosecution of Frank Benneh was suddenly discontinued, with the latter appearing on a campaign platform at Kasoa with the former?

9. Why did he so mysteriously stop a case that NDC's Deputy Attorney General, Martin Amidu prosecuted so relentlessly until NPP took over the reins of office?

10. Does Akufo-Addo know that the discontinuation of that famous case was another strong signal of his own lack of political commitment to fight the drug menace and the indication of the weakness of NPP's resolve to deal with the canker? Or doesn’t he realize that by that single act, Akuffo Addo implicated himself and gave the signal that he was in association with drug dealers?

11. What about the three NPP Dzorwulu branch executives who were busted with narcotics at Kotoka in February 2002 when Akufo-Addo was AG?

12. Is it not interesting that under his tenure as AG, all those three arrested NPP drug queens just vanished into thin air? Their dockets also just magically disappeared like a phantom?

13. What did Nana Addo do about that case to send a strong and clear message to Ghana and the world that his government abhorred drug trafficking and that he was dead set to punish anyone, regardless of proximity to the ruling class, who dares engage in the dangerous narcotic trafficking?

14. Was Akufo-Addo not a prominent member of parliament who was pushing hard for a law (described by Ghanaians as Amoateng Bill) to be passed that will essentially allow Ghanaian drug offenders, languishing in foreign jails to be sent back to Ghana to complete their term? 15. Does Nana Akufo-Addo still believe in the Amoateng Bill? Does he think that it will be useful to bring back to Ghana, top NPP drug financiers like Eric Amoateng and Raymond Amankwah?

16. Why does Nana Addo think that the accusation of drug addiction has never been leveled against any other leader or potential leader of his party like K.A Busia, Victor Owusu, Adu Boahen, J.A. Kufuor or Alan Kyeremateng but only him? Is it just a sheer coincidence?

Akuffo Addo must be told without mincing words that due to his inactions and actions, his ineptitude as well as the lackadaisical and aloofness on his part when it comes to contraband drugs, most Ghanaians think that he is not fit, nay, he is not qualified to be leading this nation which wants to rid itself of organized crime, violent crime and crime of all shades and forms.

Chris Gyamfi Boateng (aka Koo Boateng). MS. Info

Philadelphia, USA