?Nyaho Tamakloe Is Nobody In NPP?

The immediate past General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Dan Kwaku Botwe, has made it clear that Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe is a ?nobody' in the NPP.

Sounding highly exasperated, Dan Kwaku Botwe, in response to a question posed to him by Adakabre Frimpong Manso on the latter's Adom FM 106.3 morning show last Wednesday, May 18, 2005, asked, "who is Nyaho Tamakloe?"

Dan Botwe, questioned the notion of "a leading member" of the NPP, arguing that it is officials of the party who are mandated to speak on behalf of the party and not some ubiquitous so-called "a leading member". In that sense, he asked, "who is Nyaho Tamakloe?" Dan Botwe, now President Kufuor's Minister of Information, blamed the media for giving undue credence to minions and nobodies in the NPP and bestowing unnecessary titles on such people.

As far as Dan Botwe was concerned, Nyaho Tamakloe has every right to speak as much as he wants and to say whatever he wants, but being a ?nobody' within the NPP, he can never purport to be speaking in the name of the party as a so-called "leading member". Dan Botwe's contempt for Nyaho Tamakloe was almost palpable.

In Dan Botwe's view, no responsible office holder or serious party functionary who has a voice in the party would castigate the party in the media, while pretending to be advising party faithfuls and followers. Dan contends that political parties have laid down processes for people to let their worries and views known when a persons breaks ranks and resorts to the using the media such a person or group of persons cannot be said to be a true party loyalist or faithful.

Dan Botwe's reaction was at a publication in one of the private papers that said Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe had called on NPP leadership and party faithfuls to eschew nepotism, tribalism, cronyism, name-dropping, backbiting and such other negative traits and work for the unity of the party lest the party suffers an ignominious defeat come the next general elections.

Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe's call is seen by most observers as a tacit admission that the Kufuor-led NPP administration is based on nepotism, tribalism, cronyism, name-dropping, and backbiting; thus confirming similar allegations made by opponents of Kufuor regime could not be untrue.

It is no secret the fact that Nyaho has not hesitated, with the slightest of opportunities he chances upon, to draw attention to himself as a very important personality within the NPP. In fact on several occasions he has beaten his own drum to the effect that he is a founding member of the NPP. However highly placed officials are, at the time of going to press, still trying very hard to remember the last time Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe made any financial contribution to the party, either at the National level or at the constituency level.

Falling from the lips of an NPP stalwart like Dan Botwe who progressed through the ranks from National Organiser, through the post of General Secretary and is now a Minister of State, maybe it is about time the media and all right thinking Ghanaians, stopped paying any serious attention to anything that Nyaho Tamakloe says.

As the saying goes, when the frog comes from underneath the river to say that the crocodile is dead, one dares not disagree with the frog. Dan Botwe may just be one of those "frogs" with a message and we dare not refuse to listen to him.