Alan man fingered in Osafo Marfo’s secret tape leak

Reports available to The aL-hAJJ has revealed that the 2016 presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and his praise-singers are accusing devotees of failed flag bearer of the party, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, of being behind a damning leaked tape with a voice said to be that of Akufo-Addo’s right-hand man, Yaw Osafo Marfo.

Party insiders told this paper that when the leaked tape went viral, the twice defeated presidential candidate’s acolytes mounted an intensive search for the possible “Judas Iscariot” amongst the NPP who could have recorded and leaked the tape.

The aL-hAJJ has gathered after the thorough search for a possible culprit or a scapegoat, the Nana Addo loyalists are now pointing accusing fingers at the former Eastern Regional Chairman of the party, Dr Samuel Annor, as the possible perpetrator.

According to our usual reliable sources, although Dr Annor, who is thought to be a right-hand man of Alan Kyeremanten and played key roles in his thrice failed flag bearer bid was not present at the Wednesday, January 28, 2015 meeting, however, his accusers are claiming that he induced a participant at the meeting to do the recording.

The pro-Akufo-Addo elements are alleged to have claimed that Dr Annor masterminded the recording of the leaked tape to consolidate their (pro-Alan Kyeremanten elements) agenda of plotting the defeat of the NPP flag bearer again.

Handlers of Nana Akufo-Addo including his nephew, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko; spokesperson, Mustapha Hamid and others have variously accused former President Kufuor, Alan Kyerematen, Kwadwo Mpiani and other anti-Akufo-Addo elements of plotting his (Nana Addo’s) defeat in the last two presidential elections.

As confirmed in a recently leaked tape involving one of Akufo-Addo’s financiers who doubles as the Northern Regional Chairman, Daniel Bugri Naabu, supposed pro-Alan Kyeremanten elements like national chairman, Paul Afoko; General Secretary, Kwabena Agyapong; vice chairman, Sammy Crabbe, former General Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow and other leading figures are scheming to cause Nana Akufo-Addo’s defeat again.

This among other reasons, sources in the party say, the former Foreign Affairs Minister in the Kufuor administration and his linchpins have concluded that Dr Samuel Annor, a known Alan protégée, is behind the Osafo Marfo leaked tape laced in tribal bigotry.

The tape, which was recorded at a National Council meeting on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at Oyinka hotel in Koforidua in the Eastern region, captured a voice believed to be that of Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign strategist, Yaw Osafo Marfo, making earth-shattering tribal comments.

The meeting, according to party insiders, was attended by over 60 people including council members, former DCEs who served under the Kufuor administration, regional and selected constituency officers of the NPP, some former ministers under the Kufuor administration and some selected members of Parliament and two representatives from each constituency in the region.

The January 28 National Council meeting, The aL-hAJJ gathered was to among other things, discuss how the NPP will approach the 2016 elections with the sole aim of returning the party back to power in 2016.

Sources say many party chieftains aligned to Nana Akufo-Addo’s fiercest internal rival, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, were sidelined from the meeting.

However, less than a month after the meeting, a leaked tape purporting to contain the voice of former NPP MP for Akim Oda and former Finance Minister, Osafo Marfo, is currently in circulation and being played on some radio stations.

In the said tape, according to the one time flag bearer aspirant, even though about 90 percent of Ghana’s natural resources are concentrated in mainly Akan-speaking regions of the country, it is people who come from regions without resources who are governing the country.

Speaking at the National Council meeting, Osafo Marfo could not fathom why Akan-speaking people, whose regions are rich with natural resources, are not the ones at the helm of managing those resources. “…You have all the resources, but you have no say in the management of your resources and that is what is happening. Your development depends on the one who has no resources.”

While admitting “You can’t say this openly,” he added that they are at liberty to talk about it among Asantes.

“We should protect ourselves, we should protect our income. No one who is the source of income, the source of revenue, the source of resources allows another person without those resources the chance to rule over them. It’s never done anywhere in the world. In the world over, it is the group with the most resources that rules and not the other way around,” he said.

In his estimation, “86.5 percent of resources in Ghana come from five regions: Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, Western and Central. This is where 86 percent of the resources of Ghana come from… And the oil was also discovered in the West. It will change the formula to about 90 percent. We cannot ignore these five regions. We should not.”