Samia’s comments baseless - Greenstreet´s aide

A spokesperson of Convention People’s Party (CPP) flagbearer Ivor Kobina Greenstreet has said he is “surprised and shocked” by assertions by Ms Samia Yaba Nkrumah that Mr Greenstreet’s recent victory at the CPP’s primaries was funded by the governing National Democratic Congress.

Ms Nkrumah had Thursday March 10 told Ekow Mensah-Shalders on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) that the NDC provided cash with which Mr Greenstreet bribed delegates to snatch victory at the delegates’ congress.

But Mr Kadri Abdul Rauf found the comments inappropriate, especially as Ms Nkrumah is a former chairman of the party, hence should have followed due procedure if she wanted that allegation probed.

“I am very surprised and shocked by Samia’s statement. As party chairman, even if she felt the money came from the NDC she knows the channels to follow to have the matter investigated,” an unhappy Mr Rauf told Accra News Thursday March 10, 2016.

He said he wondered why the former Jomoro MP and daughter of CPP founder and Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, would go along that trajectory when the NDC had themselves alleged that the British counter-intelligence service, MI6 – now officially known as the Secret Intelligence Service – were backing Mr Greenstreet with their resources.

“During the congress, I know NDC members who came to the congress and were saying that we should be watchful of [Ivor] Greenstreet because Greenstreet had actually been given money by the British MI6 to contest. Kabila (James Kwabena Bomfeh, who was Mr Greenstreet’s campaign coordinator for the presidential primary) was asking: ‘What is the interest of MI6 in sponsoring Ivor Kobina Greenstreet to become the flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party?’ And this allegation was coming from the NDC. NDC said that the monies being given was coming from the British MI16,” continued Mr Rauf, who is also his party’s director of communications.

“Now, if one of our own, and no other person than a former chairman of the Convention People’s Party will come out and make arguments like this, which one should we take? Should we take Samia’s argument or the NDC’s argument?” he asked.

The CPP communicator stressed that a tell-tale indication that the former CPP chair’s argument was “unfounded” and “had no merit” was her admission that she had no “hard core proof”.

“We are a serious people. We can’t just be making statements on the basis of hearsay. If she thinks she has hard-core evidence, then she should bring it to the party and then justice will be done. Justice will not only be done, but it will be seen to be done.”