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Opinions of Monday, 29 June 2015

Columnist: Friends of John Dramani Mahama (USA Chapter)

What happened To The GHC 2.29m NPP’s Prudential Bank Loan?

There was a report on peacefmonline.com on May 28, 2015 and I will quote the whole paragraph for you. “At the end of this month if we are unable to pay bank the GHC 2.00m loan we took from Prudential Bank, they would take over our headquarters. It is on record that Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta signed that loan but we don’t know what he used the money for. Kwabena Agyepong has vowed not to make such deals happen under his watch and because of this, he seems to have made more enemies within the NPP.” The above statement was made by Baah Acheamfour, a spokesman for Save NPP now.
On the same day, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, aka, Sir John was on myjoyonline.com explaining what the money was used for. He said the current leadership of the party must pay the GHC 2.29 loan taken from Prudential Bank for the 2012 Presidential Finance Campaign Team. His reason was that the loan was contracted because of the weak finances of the party and that the loan was used for the party’s “D-Day operations” which was the last campaign push a few days before the elections in 2012. According to Sir John, to complete “operations D-Day” the loan was used to buy bicycles, motorbikes, T-Shirts and cars to help the party and the Presidential campaign during the elections.
Now the man at the center of this loan, former Chief Executive Officer of Data Bank, Ken Ofori-Atta has said on myjoyonline.com on May 28, 2015 that the document from the Prudential bank requesting the payment of the GHC 2.29m owed it by the NPP was leaked to create mischief. According to him, the loan was a purely private business transaction between him and the bank and that the NPP played no part in contracting the loan. He continued to say he was personally liable for any obligation that arose from the transaction and not in any way the NPP. He finished by saying although the loan was acquired to finance the party’s 2012 campaign, he, as the Chairman of the 2012 Presidential Campaign Finance Team, contracted and guaranteed for purposes of the elections, and this has nothing to do with the party.
Ladies and gentlemen, do we see what is going on here? A loan of GHC 2.29m was contracted from a local bank and one who signed for the loan, the past and present Executives don’t know who should pay the loan? If the NPP, in opposition are struggling to determine who should pay their loans, what will happen if they come into government? Do we know how the NPP was going to pay for the loan had they won the elections in 2012? Was it one of the reasons why Nana Akufo-Addo wanted to win the 2012 elections at all cost to the extent that he has to waste 8 months of Ghana’s precious time at the Supreme Court? Do we know how much they have already borrowed for the 2016 elections? Do we know how and who is going to pay for that loan? Is it going to be the poor tax payer or the party?
The NPP boost of having the men and women to turn the economy around should they be voted into office in 2016, yet when they went for loan from a local bank, they are struggling to know how, when and who to pay the loan. Do we now know how and why the NPP went to China to contract for a loan and the delegation ended up in a salon shop? Are these the same men and women who want to govern Ghana again? Have we not seen enough of their fruits?
Fellow Ghanaians, people don’t see the serious consequences of this Prudential Bank loan by the NPP. It has exposed the NPP as a not-a-serious party. They cannot even manage GHC 2.29m loan from a local bank but they talk of turning an economy around. Let the NPP know that it takes billions of dollars from foreign banks to turn an economy around. Day in and day out, the NPP is exposed as the party that is not ready for power in 2016.
Now it looks like this GHC 2.29m loan saga has died down because it is an NPP who went for the loan. When Ibrahim Mahama, CEO of Engineers and Planners Co. Ltd went for a loan from Merchant Bank, was it not on every radio station and on every television where an NPP member was a panelist. They brought it up even when it was not being discussed. Did the newspapers not report it every day at their front pages? Why are these same NPP panelists and newspapers not publishing and demanding when and how the GHC 2.29m loan will be paid? Is that also not Ghana money? In Ghana today, if you are an NPP member and you owe a bank, you take all your time to pay it but if you an NDC member and you owe a bank, you are given specific time to pay it all else, the NPP would organize a big demonstration against you and your party. You see, the NPP do their thing as if to tell Ghanaians that they are fools and that they can’t think for themselves. Whatever the NPP does, it is interpreted to the Ghanaian as wise and common sense but when the NDC does the same thing it is interpreted as stupid and evil. Example, when the NPP gives bribe to their delegates, it is called “donation or transport allowance” and it is good. As soon as the NDC gives donation to its delegates, it is called bribery and corruption. It is therefore evil.
So what is the role of the man who claims to be non-corrupt, Nana Akufo-Addo, in all this GHC 2.29m loan saga? Was Nana aware of it or not? Did he know who was going to pay the loan or not. Did he know how the loan was contracted and what the loan was going to be used for? Did Nana Addo approve of the loan by his Presidential Campaign Finance Team? Did he know when the loan was going to be paid and how? Ghanaians demand answers to all these questions by the end of this month. (June) We are sick and tired of politicians who pride themselves as not being corrupt but the things they do underground is more dangerous than a poisonous snake. Nana Akufo-Addo should come clean on the GHC 2.29m loan from Prudential Bank to help his party because it looks as if the party is confused over a local loan of just GHC 2.29m, but they talk of turning the economy around with billions of dollars from foreign banks. You guys are jokers.
One thing about the NPP is that, they always tell Ghanaians big things and big dreams. Meanwhile, they cannot even manage the little they have. Example, they talk of managing a country when they cannot manage their own party. They talk of managing 25 million people when they cannot manage their membership of 2.5 people. They talk of managing the Ghana Army when they cannot manage their invisible forces. They talk of managing billions of dollars of foreign loans when they cannot manage GHC 2.29m loan from a local bank. They talk of fixing the problems in Ghana when they cannot fix the problems in their own party. They talk of turning around an economy when they cannot manage their own party resources. Their party is always “broke.” They talk of the incompetence of the HE John Mahama administration when through the competent skills of their leader, acid was thrown on one of their Regional Chairmen. They took Ghana to the Supreme Court, yet the very reasons why they took Ghana to court was manifested in their internal parliamentary elections. They accuse the NDC of giving GHC 20.00 bribe to their delegates but they gave GHC 700.00 bribe to their delegates and called it “transport allowance”. So you see, the NPP is asking you to shout ‘Ghana is hard” but wait until they come to power and you might not even have the energy to shout “Ghana is hard.” The devil you know…
Lawrence Appiah-Osei (Protocol)
Chairman
Friends of John Dramani Mahama (USA Chapter)
Appiah65@Hotmail.com or 703-400-1621