Akufo-Addo says I should see him but 'powerful' gatekeepers won't allow me - Amoako Baah

A failed Chairman-aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Richard Amoako Baah, has revealed that despite President Nana Akufo-Addo relaying a message through the First Lady to him for a meeting, the “gatekeepers” at the Jubilee House have refused to grant him access to the President for the past two months.

“Some of them will even tell you that the President is ill. For whatever reasons, they have their own reasons, they will not let you see him”, he complained to Adakabre Frimpong Manso on Neat FM, adding: “There is a problem when the President himself tells his wife to tell me to come and see him and I still cannot see him; there is a problem”.

According to him, “I’ve tried several times to see the President but the same thing that happened to Alban Bagbin, which led him to complain publicly that he was being prevented from seeing President John Mahama in the past administration is happening to me”.

The retired head of the political science department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology said: “I saw one senior member of the government who said: ‘Doc, the gatekeepers will not let you see him’”.

He continued: “I was advised by the First Lady to see one of the deputy Chiefs of Staff, Mr Asenso-Boakye, to book an appointment for me so I could see the President. After failing to pick my persistent calls, I went to the Presidency to meet him [Asenso-Boakye] and we sat and discussed my issues with a promise by him to give me access to the President but that still hasn’t happened two months on. I’ve called Anthony Karbo but nothing happened; I tried everything possible but to no avail; that’s why I’m saying this on the airwaves”.

“Why must it be on the airwaves of Neat FM that I should be saying this? The gatekeepers will not let you see him. This is what happened to Mahama. They are not helping the President”, a frustrated Dr Amoako Baah complained.

He also revealed: “I’ve seen Freddie Blay [Chairman of the NPP] but nothing happened. I went to his office to talk to him about it, nothing happened. I’ve done everything possible but still, I have been prevented from seeing the President. And this is why you often hear Kennedy Agyapong [Assin Central MP] complaining on the radio all the time".

“The same thing that happened to President Mahama, that is what is happening to Akufo-Addo”, he bemoaned.

“I’ve seen the Chief of Staff, still nothing”, he noted, adding: “There’s a cabal around the President that misinforms him about the real situation on the ground. They only tell the President what they think he should hear. If things are not going on well, they hide it from him. I was told to go and tell the President what will make him feel good and reassured about himself and his government and not what might get him disconcerted. That is the problem”.

Dr Amoako Baah, however, noted: “I’m sure the President himself doesn’t know about it” but “I hope the President hears my complaints because I meet a lot of NPP members who are always complaining but I tell them there’s nothing I can do because I don’t get access to the President. I don’t have the authority to make any change”.