NDC Hijacked by CJA

...as plot by CJA Cabals to take over party and run government thickens

Until now, it has been a lingering rumour, but the names and the activities of the new power brokers within the ruling National Democratic Congress party are beginning to pop up soon after the effect of their adventures are beginning to cut deep into the party’s fortunes ahead of the 2012 election.

Discussions along the corridors of power have revealed that unless something very unusual is done to cut the evolving influence of some personalities in the ruling NDC, the party may as well be on its way to opposition.

At the moment, the party is said to be on a tender-hook following what insiders see as a sneaky attempt by a CJA-linked cabal to take full control over the party against the wishes of some senior party members.

The heavy interference by the cabal of the Committee for Joint Action, (CJA), a pressure group which has metamorphosed into a power block within the Mills- Mahama administration, is not only the headache of NDC party Chieftains but also a great source of worry to some serving appointees of President Mills, according to intelligence available to The Republic.

“Names like Ato Ahwoi, Kwamena Ahwoi, Totobi Quakyie, Kwesi Ahwoi, Mr. PV Obeng have become the magic that gives automatic access to power within the administration, and this cannot be right”, said one of our sources.

The Republic has learnt that the CJA has become the vehicle to power, and government appointees who do not belong to the CJA or do not show utmost loyalty to the cabal, risk losing their positions.

The CJA had organised several demonstration whilst the NDC was in opposition to drum home the need to change the then NPP administration which was embedded in gargantuan corruption.

Government sources have revealed how the cabal has over the years been instrumental in the appointment and removal of some government functionaries on the blind sight of the president, John Evans Atta Mills.

“The fear is that, if we are not careful, we will have a situation where government officials submit their allegiance to these guys instead of the President in whom the supreme executive power resides,” says a party official who prefers to remain anonymous.

Besides his appointment as Chairman of the National Communications Authority, Totobi Quakyi, our sources hint, is working in a more influential capacity as he is said to be the sniper in the scheme of things.

Totobi Quakye was deemed as one of the successful Intelligence operatives in the country when he was advising Ex-President Rawlings on Security matters under NDC ONE.

Grapevine sources hinted that he is running a parallel security system to the one headed by Lt Cornel Gbevlo Lartey.

Enter Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister for Agriculture: he was very involved in the cashpro saga which saw three officials under the Rawlings-Mills NDC administration jailed on corruption charges. Prior to the 2008 general elections, Kwesi Ahwoi had announced his retirement from politics until he resurfaced when Professor Mills defeated Akuffo Addo and has since become a minister.

Mr. Paul Victor Obeng, a senior man in the Mills-Mahama government had served as a presidential adviser to Mr. Rawlings and remained the chairman of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) under President Kufuor until he voluntarily resigned. Mr. PV Obeng is a key contact between the group and the President.

Perhaps the most senior coordinator of the scheme is Mr. Ato Ahwoi, is said to be the ‘Don King’ of the cabal who actually get things done at the blink of his eyes.

Among other members of the cabal which have allegedly embarked on a mission to take over control of the party and run the machinery of government, are the chief spokesman of the CJA, Kwesi Pratt Junior, Mr. Omani Boamah, who has been moved from the ministry of Environment and science to Education and Sports as a Deputy Minister and Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Deputy Minister of Information.

Notable among members of the CJA who have been appointed to serve in the Mills administration are: Dr. Omane Boamah, Ablakwa Okudzeto, Mrs. Hannah Tettey Kpodah, Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi.

Apart from the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Mr. Kwesi Pratt who is a lead spokesman to the agenda some other senior media practitioners are said to be thick in the helm of affairs. (Names shall be dropped soon)

The development, according to our intelligence, has been a deep worry to ‘Ridge’, the seat of the party’s founder, Jerry John Rawlings whom sources alleged has been privy to the orchestrations of the cabal as far back as 2009 when the party assumed the mantle of power.

Jerry Rawlings has been quite of-late watching as events unfold as he is yet to accept calls by the party’s foot soldiers to patch up is differences with President Mills.

One of The Republic’s sources has vowed that tension among the senior party echelon has risen so high to the crises level and that an implosion in the next couple of weeks would not be a surprise.

A political observer whose analyses, this paper will be publishing soon, has warned that the situation calls for an extra-ordinary action from the president to serve the party and government from collapse.

More soon.