Poku was against "elimination" of JJ -Smith

Special Aide to former President Jerry John Rawlings, Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith, has said that even though he had issues with axed National Security Minister Francis Poku; he was a moderate who deserves credit where it is due.

In an interview with the Ghanaian Observer (GO) newspaper last Monday, Victor Smith who is on record as having accused Francis Poku for being purportedly behind some stories in the media about the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Rawlingses on several occasions said

"I have had issues with him (Poku) on suspicion of (his) planting stories in sections of the media against the Rawlingses and the NDC. With what has happened, I hope the Government does not have any diabolical plans against us.'

Mr. Smith said "had occasion to sit down with Francis Poku on some occasions and realised that he is a moderate as compared to some of the hawks in the NPP. I know for example that some personalities in the NPP and the Government wanted to eliminate Rawlings but Francis Poku was against it. I want to give him credit for that."

Mr. Smith also told GO that he got information from some security operatives that Francis Poku used to plant stories in the media not only against officials and operatives of the NDC but also against NPP ministers and operatives. Mr. Smith said notwithstanding this, "It is absolute that President Kufuor has gotten rid of a moderate. I hope the agenda is not to replace him with a hawk.`

Mr. Smith` comments on Francis Poku, a man he stridently accused of being behind certain stories about the Rawlingses in particular have come as a surprise and show him (Smith) as man with a very open mind. Meanwhile, GO can reveal that sections of the NDC are clinking glasses, patting each other on the back and hailing President J. A. Kufuor over the removal of Francis Poku from office.

In a tongue-in-cheek manner, a top operative of the NDC has told GO that the decision to remove Francis Poku is perceived to be the greatest miscalculation of the Kufuor administration yet. The top NDC operative told GO "Francis Poku is the guy who has worried the NDC over the period that he has been National Security Co-ordinator and Minister."

From telephone calls through to open display of satisfaction over the announcement; the NDC is charging that the exit of Francis Poku makes Election 2008 very easy for the party as the man who is most dreaded by the party is no longer in charge of national security. The shock announcement of Francis Poku` shoving off on Saturday by President Kufuor, according to NDC insiders was expected by the NDC with bated breath over the last few weeks.

It all started with comments that the outcome of the New Patriotic Party` (NPP) congress last December has been received with anger by President J. A. Kufuor. The terse announcement signed by Ambassador D. K. Osei last Saturday on the axing of Francis Poku has itself not helped matters with wild speculations all over the place. The axing of Francis Poku is beginning to establish a worrying trend as he happens to be the second National Security Minister who has fallen out with his boss since the fourth republic got under way.

The first was Totobi Quakyi.

Though Quakyi was not sacked by former President Rawlings, it is common knowledge that by the time the NDC was leaving office on January 7, 2001, relations between him and Mr. Rawlings had degenerated. Before Quakyi` saga, the feared Captain Kojo Tsikata who was the PNDC member in charge of National Security and who later became a member of the first Council of State of the fourth republic had also reportedly fallen out with Mr. Rawlings.