Clear out, not reshuffle -Chronicle

JAK CLEANS OUT NPP GIANTS

Ministers and their deputies held their hearts in their hands as they trooped in and out of the Castle to receive news of their removal, retention or reassignment, like school children coming out of their headmaster?s office. It was the ultimate humiliation for the cr?me de la cr?me of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), since none of them had the faintest inclination of what their fate would be, as they waited to be called to the President?s inner office to be told of their fate.

Surprisingly, the names of people cleared out included three of the greatest names within the ruling party, sending hopeful signals to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The three are Messrs Dan Kweku Botwe, the defacto General secretary of the ruling NPP, Professor Mike Oquaye, the NPP founding father who supported Kufuor with his substance and huge intellectual assets and Yaw Osafo Maafo, the NPP?s answer to P.V. Obeng.

Dan is to be replaced by Mr. Kwamena Bartels, who is effectively out of the Ministry of Private Sector Development and Presidents Special Initiative (PSI).

Though the names of the two giants of the party had been widely speculated, it still came as a shocker because the generality of the NPP members could not contemplate an NPP Government without these notable key players. Indeed, the outspoken Kennedy Agyepong, publicly screamed on Peace FM that should anyone remove the trio of Dan, Osafo Maafo and Nana Akufo Addo, they will be dealing a death blow to the NPP.

Professor Mike Oquaye was one of the casualties to be axed from the cabinet and it was widely speculated that Hon. Kan Dapaah would go back to the Energy Ministry.

Though Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku had long been known to have anticipated his outster, he appeared to have regretted going public with his plans for the Presidency and tried to retreat. His Ministry was shut down and annexed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the MP for Abuakwa South and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo Addo, retained to man the enlarged portfolio.

Legal brawler, Ayikoi Otoo, The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, who was only last Wednesday waging battle in court with Tsatsu Tsikata over the immunity of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the Ghanaian jurisdiction, was invited in to meet with the President and walked out with no job. Hon. Joe Ghartey, one of his deputies, replaced him.

By press time, there was no confirmation of which Ministry Hon.Paapa Owusu Ankomah, Minister of Interior, was going to be sent to, as his name was on the list of Ministers who had been removed. His car was still parked at the forecourt of the Castle, as the other Ministers hurriedly left. It would clearly be a big shattering blow to this most genteel and loyal party man and respected Mr. Clean.

Ms. Christine Churcher was also swept from office as Minister of Science and Environment, and as time wore on, responses and reactions raged, as calls and phone-ins reflected the mood of the NPP rank and file at the decimation of their stars.

There were signals that the conditions of the President Bush initiative, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), imposed on President Kufuor the need to shrink the size of his government from 86 to 70.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) reports had also criticized the large size of the Kufuor-led administration. These, more than the widely speculated issue of presidential aspirants campaigning while still in office, account for the action of the President; the simple reason being that, if presidential ambition of ministers had been the issue, then Dr. Addo Kufuor, the Minister of Defence, his brother, would be the first to go.

If it had to do with incompetence, then it would be difficult to fathom how Messrs Osafo Maafo, the workaholic and Ayikoi Otoo, the Minister of Justice, who has been active in the courts as well as in office, could be eased out.

Mr. Charles Bintim, the Minister of Local Government, was also cleared out in what is obviously a misnomer ? a reshuffle.

The big surprise came from Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, who lost out in his long drawn-out struggle to save the President from himself and Kwadwo Mpiani. He jumped out before he was pushed, sending his resignation and ?opting out?.

There are signs that Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani and Francis Poku, who is effectively out as National Security Coordinator, as he has been kicked up as Minister of National Security, have patched-up their long feud and are working closely together in one solid team, to handle the President, brushing off the growing influence of Agyepong.