NDC Plots Against Obiri-Boahen

The opposition National Democratic Congress is scheming to thwart the appointment of Nana Obiri-Boahen as a Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior, The Statesman has learnt. Some NDC MPs have publicly expressed concern over the prospect of the firebrand Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party being sent to the Ministry that has the responsibility to ensure internal security, as well as peace and order, in the country.

Last Thursday on an Accra-based radio station, Haruna Iddrisu, NDC MP for Tamale South and Minority spokesman said his party would resist any attempt to make Obiri Boahen continued as Regional Chairman as a Minister of State. "He could abuse state resources for the party,” Mr Iddrisu conjectured. Also, Inusah Fuseini, NDC MP for Tamale Central, last week, asked: “Has he been appointed to prepare the grounds for the 2008 elections?” Mr Bagbin has described Obiri Boahen as "hot-headed", questioning his suitability for the position. This was re-echoed by another NDC MP, Felix Twumasi Ankrah on Peace FM, where he gave hints of his party's scheme to frustrate the nominee"s appointment, with the same accusation repeated on Radio Gold by Prof. Mills’ Press Secretary, Kokuvi Anyidoho.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the NPP is seen as one of the most ferocious attackers of the NDC. The senior lawyer has also represented clients in matters of which the NDC has taken the opposite view.The Statesman has learnt that the two NDC MPs from Tamale are alleged to be behind a plot to get a section of the Andani faction in the Yendi chieftaincy dispute to issue a petition against Nana Obiri-Boahen’s nomination. A meeting allegedly took place in Tamale yesterday, where it was concluded that a petition be issued today or tomorrow.

The nominee was one of the counsel for the Abudu gate during the Wauku Commission hearings in Sunyani in 2002. He also served as a counsel for two people who were arraigned before court for their alleged involvement in the Yendi massacre. The two were subsequently discharged and acquitted.Three of the MPs alleged to be involved in the scheme against the nominee, Messrs Alban Bagbin, Ben Kumbour and Twumasi Ankrah, serve on the Appointments Committee of Parliament, which has the responsibility to vet ministerial nominees.

Inusah Fuseini also described Obiri-Boahen’s nomination as "curious" in a story published in the Ghanaian Times of Friday, July 13, 2007. "This man has filed a writ at a Kumasi High Court to compel the Electoral Commission to implement the ROPAA. His nomination therefore raises questions about the intentions of [the] President in relation to the 2008 elections. Has he been appointed to prepare the grounds for the 2008 elections?" Times Reporter, Agbeko Azumah, quoted the Tamale Central MP as having queried. Nana Obiri-Boahen has told The Statesman that all his legal work would cease and the cases passed on to other lawyers once his appointment is confirmed.But, in a rebuff to the NDC concerns, including calls for him to resign his party position, Obiri-Boahen points out that Mr Iddrisu, who is the National Youth Organiser of the opposition NDC, also enjoys some privileges as MP and a member of a Parliamentary Select Committee.

Former President Jerry John Rawlings was once a sitting President and at the same time the founder and leader of the then ruling NDC. "Those are the two ultimate roles in both government and party and yet I did not hear any complaints about abuse of office then," the NPP Regional Chairman said.Nana Obiri-Boahen argued that nothing in both his party’s constitution or the Fourth Republic Constitution prevents him from holding the two positions concurrently.

"The NPP constitution allowed Presidential aspirant and former Minister for Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, to serve as the Greater-Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP and Minister at the same time. How different is that to mine?" he asked."I know NDC gurus are not comfortable about my expected entry into the Interior Ministry, hence the elaborate scheme to frustrate me, but Isha Alahu! I’ll sail through. Let me assure them that we are all one people in spite of our different political persuasions, and as such I will make them very comfortable with my administration."

Meanwhile, some people in Brong Ahafo Region have described Obiri-Boahen’s nomination as "heart-warming news", with some party activists, however, seeing his movement to the capital as a big blow to the party in the Region, taking cognisance of the impending crucial 2008 elections. "I am very glad that Nana has finally caught the President’s eyes, and has been nominated to become a Minister, because he has really suffered for the NPP", Michael Boateng, a Sunyani based correspondent for The Chronicle told The Statesman on phone. A statement issued by the Brong Ahafo Students Union to congratulate their National Patron, and signed by Anane Agyei, National President, described the ministerial nominee as "a man whose committed services to humanity and tract record of quality leadership puts him in a position to make a positive impact at the Interior Ministry." Born on June 24, 1960, the native of Sunyani-Odumasi in the Brong Ahafo Region, a Catholic, is a product of Sunyani Secondary School, where be became the 18th Senior Prefect, gaining admission to the University of Ghana and the Ghana Law School.

He is also a former CEO of the Sunyani-based Tano Bofoakwa Football Club, a former Regional GBA President, a member of the International Bar Association and Amnesty International, a legal advisor to District Assemblies in the Brong Ahafo Region, a former Youth Organiser of the Danquah-Busia Club, the first Youth Organiser of the ruling NPP and the National Patron of Brong Ahafo Students Union.