Nana Addo’s Swearing-In Cloth Revealed

His campaign team called him “Your Excellency Nana Akufo Addo” and got New Patriotic Party (NPP) market women consumed by this false prophecy to import tonnes of clothes with the inscription “Our President, Nana Akufo-Addo” and “Dr. Bawumia, Our Vice President.”

The huge investment sunk into the printing and importation of the cloth and other clothings which were expected to be the dress code for the inauguration of Nana Akufo-Addo had he won the 2008/9 Presidential elections, ended up as a huge financial loss to the NPP market women.

Further, party faithful also imported a huge quantity of cartons of expensive champagne and other top of the range drinks with President Akufo-Addo inscribed on them for the inauguration of “President Akufo Addo” which never was.

The cheap China-made wax prints (pictured) identified Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as President and Vice-President respectively. Although the NPP bitterly lost the election, the clothes were released unto the market and sold between GH¢4 and GH¢5 per yard.

Meanwhile, Samuel Abu Jinapor an errand boy of the NPP flag bearer, last Wednesday denied the existence of the cloth and other paraphernalia for the 2008 victory event, depicting Nana Addo as President of Ghana.

He was reacting to The Herald’s Wednesday edition which revealed how the NPP has started issuing invitations to people to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Nana Addo at the Independence Square on January 7, 2013,

Mr. Jinapor, however, admitted that some NPP members around the flagbearer, address him as “His Excellency” or “Your Excellency,” but said that Nana Addo hated the accolade. He indicated that Nana Addo as president would not like to be addressed as such because he holds the view that the accolade connotes a monarchical system.

Story of the cloth was first reported by “The Enquirer” newspaper. At the time, there were concerns by security experts that the circulation of the clothes in the country could have some implications for National Security, and that the “words Our President Nana Akufo-Addo and our Vice President Dr. Bawumia” were unacceptable since there was only one President and a Vice-President and none of them had won the election.

Appeals were at the time made to the National Security to ban the distribution of such materials and ensure that those which had not yet been cleared were seized at ports of entry.

Sources at Makola disclosed that some businesswomen affiliated to the opposition NPP were those behind the importation of the cheap wax prints from China, into Ghana in anticipation of an NPP victory bash.

Apart from the photographs of the two personalities, the print also had the NPP symbol, the elephant printed in it.

Aside the Chinese-made cloth, Printex Ghana Limited and Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL) were also mentioned to have printed huge quantities.

The sale of the clothes, especially in Makola, Agbogbloshie and other markets in the Accra-Tema Metropolis, agitated the minds of supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), to ask how many presidents and vice-presidents Ghana had aside of President John Atta Mills and Vice-President John Mahama.

An NDC supporter, who specifically bought two different kinds of the clothes designed in the form of Kente for verification, went as far as asking whether the inscription that Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia are President and Vice-President respectively, was not treasonable.

The Herald last Wednesday revealed how some elements within the NPP had shockingly started sending out invitations to people, asking them to attend “The Swearing in Ceremony of H.E. Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo”.

The invitation reads: “You are cordially invited to the swearing in of our Next President, H.E. Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo”. The venue, date and time of the swearing-in event were given as The Independence Square, Accra, Monday January 7, 2013 and 12:00pm until 5:00pm respectively.

The invitation was issued on the social media platform “Facebook” and has over 600 people expressing divergent views on it. The platform is one of the many sites on the internet created by the NPP and used to spread last week’s false claim that President John Mills was dead and being kept in a secret makeshift mortuary inside the Castle, sparking jubilations in Kumasi, an NPP enclave.

The creation of the internet site has led to reports that some individuals in the NPP have started calling Nana Addo as “His Excellency” and “Your Excellency” while addressing him in public in precedence of the outcome of the December 7, 2012, polls.

This could have led to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s obvious diplomatic blunder of having a meeting with Nana Addo, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Herbert Krapa and others in Berlin-Germany to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries.

The inaugural invitation again follows Nana Addo’s “Get Well” message he issued on behalf of Ghanaians to President Mills on his medical checkup in the US, saying the president “takes with him the thoughts and prayers of all Ghanaians who wish him good health and a safe return to duty in a few days”.

On dress code for the ceremony, the invitation said, “Please note that this is a national event so anything with the national colours is accepted as dressing code. The traditional Ghanaian Kentey could also make a great appearance”. “All well meaning Ghanaians and non Ghanaians may attend this historic event. Ghana Shall move Forward!!” said the invitation.

On the site, the opposition leader is dressed in a yellow-green-blue and orange mixed Kentey cloth, with a white handkerchief in his hand.

The social media website, Facebook, was used to spark civil unrest, leading to the overthrow of the governments of some countries on the African continent and elsewhere in Europe, last year.

In Ghana, the NPP is effectively using the internet facility to its advantage. Last week, the facility was used to spread false claims on the health of President Mills with some saying he was bedridden by sickness and others saying he was dead, and being kept in a makeshift morgue in the Castle.

The expensive champagnes were dumped in Nana Addo’s Nima residence with some later finding their way down the throats of some people, including staff of Freddy Blay’s Daily Guide, which has its office behind the NPP leader’s residence near the Nima Police Station. More to come!