By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
August 23, 2018
The ‘war of words’ that has ensued between the camps
of former President John Mahama and the presidential hopeful of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, is getting intense.
Mr. Bagbin, who is the Second Deputy Speaker of
Parliament and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli Kaleo in the Upper West
Region, has ‘fired’ again, accusing former President Mahama of appointing
unqualified individuals to head sensitive positions during his tenure.
He specifically mentioned colleague MP for North
Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, and Dr Edward Omane Boamah, as some people who
were not fit to be selected for ministerial positions.
He told NDC delegates in the Volta Region last week
that Okudzeto-Ablakwa, then Deputy Education Minister in charge of Tertiary,
had ‘problems’ before he got his certificate from the university while Dr. Edward
Kofi Omane Boamah was a ‘stammerer,’ who should not have been the
Communications Minister.
“We had very good materials in our last government
but the placement was wrong. Look at my son-in-law Ablakwa -brilliant handsome
young man but he had problems before he got his certificate at Legon. You
recall they almost rusticated him,” Mr. Bagbin fired.
He said “after he came to do his national service in
Parliament and joined politics, he was made a Deputy Minister for Education
in-charge of Tertiary. (So for) the lecturers, what are you telling them? Some
of these decisions affected us a lot.”
Turning his attention to the former Communications
Minister, Mr Bagbin described Dr Omane Boamah as “an intelligent young man” but
said his appointment was misplaced.
“I learnt from tradition that it’s not the chief
that speaks, it’s the linguist and so when you are a leader, you must have a
very good linguist,” he said, adding “when Prof (Atta Mills) was in power,
Haruna Iddrisu was our linguist in charge of communications, when my brother
John (Mahama) came to power, he substituted him for Dr Omane Boamah, who is a
natural stammerer.”
“He is a very intelligent boy, he is smart but when
he is speaking, he wastes time in coming out and Ghanaians do not have that
much patience, so they are always looking for those that are rattling,” adding “so,
even though you might have a good message, you will not succeed in marketing
that message because somebody is there from the other side rattling and they
are listening to him, so we came down.”
Mr. Bagbin added “you didn’t realise it; I studied
governance and leadership up to the Master’s (level), so I have some of these
things at hand… They were some of the mistakes that cost us (NDC) dearly.”
Omane
Reaction
Immediately Mr. Bagbin’s comments hit the media
space, Dr. Omane Boamah hit back, challenging the Second Deputy Speaker to a ‘policy
debate.’
The former minister did not attack Mr. Bagbin but
urged him to stop the insults.
However, as at press time, it was unclear if
Okudzeto Ablakwa’s attention had been drawn to the supposed comments by Mr.
Bagbin.
Background
Already, Mr. Bagbin has come under intense attacks
from elements like National Organizer Kofi Adams for daring to criticize former
President John Dramani Mahama.
The 2016 Campaign Coordinator for Mahama’s failed
second term bid said Mr. Bagbin has set out to destroy the NDC and not lead it.
According to Kofi Adams, “Mr. Bagbin’s blackmail and
destruction of a party he claims he wants to lead into the 2020 elections will
not wash.”
He told Joy FM later that Mr. Bagbin is
likely to face disciplinary action for going too far, saying “you just gave
indication of the party’s disciplinary processes and they would be invoked at
the appropriate time.”
Axis
of Evil
Recently, an NDC group calling itself ‘Social
Democratic Forum’ attacked leading party members from the Volta Region for
undermining the former President John Mahama’s comeback.
They directed their arsenals at Mr. Bagbin, saying
the MP is being driven by envy of Mr. Mahama and asked him to “back off with
his infantile sanctimonious effusions.”
A statement jointly signed by Manan Mustapha and
Alhassan Issahaku said “as unpaid vanguards of H.E. John Dramani Mahama’s brand
since 2015, we have been watching closely developments within our Great Party,
the NDC, as we prepare to elect a presidential candidate for the elections in
2020.”
“A couple of
weeks ago, we responded to the calculated denigration of the image of the
charismatic President Mahama by the evil axis of Volta led by the newfound Nana
Addo loyalist, Mr. Rawlings.”
When the group issued its first statement to
criticize some NDC stalwarts from the Volta Region, including the party’s
founder JJ Rawlings, the office of Mr Mahama dissociated itself from the
statement but did not condemn it for being openly ethnocentric.
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