Kofi Adams jabs Ocquaye, NPP over JJ ethnic charge

Former President Rawlings cannot be held responsible for the main opposition New Patriotic Party’s Akan tag, the governing National Democratic Congress’ Kofi Adams has said.

Kofi Adams told XYZ News political historian, Prof Mike Ocquaye’s claim that Mr. Rawlings is to blame for the NPP’s Akan tag, as well as the perceived enmity between Northerners and Ewes on the one hand and Akans on the other, is untenable.

According to Prof Ocquaye, “Rawlings and his people” are the cause of the perceived ethnic tension among the three groups. “They concocted it for political advantage so that Northerners and Ewes will hate Akans and then he will describe those people as his world bank,” he told XYZ News.

In a rebuttal, Mr. Adams, who is the Spokesperson for the Rawlingses but said he was reacting in his capacity as a Ghanaian, told XYZ News: “It’s people like these who will continue to give the NPP a problem.”

“When Victor Owusu said the Ewes were inward looking people, was it President Rawlings that put those words in his mouth? When their MP for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu, described Northerners as fit for cattle rearing, was it President Rawlings that put those things in [her] mouth? When they declared an order that sought to suggest that certain persons were not Ghanaian, was it President Rawlings that asked them to do those things?”

Mr. Adams said: “Indeed he talked about the murder of Ya Na. It wasn’t President Rawlings who had to tell the Northerners that the Overlord of Dagbon was murdered. Everybody knew that that happened and it happened under their administration and their watch. They were in charge of security…so was it President Rawlings that had to go and tell the people that your chief was murdered?”

In his view, “it is better for the NPP to admit that they are not even Akan. It has been limited to Akyem and part of Twi,” he argued.

He said the NDC was more nationalistic in nature than the NPP and so wondered why Prof Ocquaye would accuse Mr. Rawlings of pitting some ethnic groups against another.

“The NDC is a national party. The NDC has had leadership from within Volta region, from the Ewe background, from the North and also from the South, with Prof Mills. We have had a Fante being a President. We’ve had indeed three Fantes being Vice President from our stock. We’ve had somebody from the North being a Vice President and we’ve had somebody from the North being a President. We’ve had somebody from the South, Fante, being a President. We’ve had somebody from the Volta also being a President. The NPP should demonstrate same,” Mr. Adams noted.