We Are In A Mess -NPP Operatives

News Desk Report

The woes of Executive Director of the Danquah Institute (DI), Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, who recently announced his intension of premature exit from Ghana’s political landscape as result of frustrations associated with marketing of his cousin, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for acceptance by Ghanaians as a Presidential commodity of the Republic of Ghana, must be far from over.

Mr. Otchere-Darko, once again receives the shocking knock on head, by some members of his own party, as he tries to defend the latest of the bad characters, Nana Poku Ofori-Atta, who has the strongest of ties with the NPP Flagbearer.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) operatives who spoke to Steve Mallory’s Africawatch Magazine as regards the fresh revelations within the inner-circle of their party’s Flagbearer, did not see wisdom in some comments attributed to the DI Executive Director in his desperate attempt to justify the crime committed by Nana Poku Ofori-Atta, that sent him to jail.

According to them, the spin that Nana Poku Ofori-Atta was made to serve jail term in Germany not for dealing in drugs, but rather for money laundering is inconsequential, since his association with the party’s Flagbearer at this crucial moment when Wikileaks’ has become a bogey issue for the party to battle with, also citing drug allegations and many other damaging reports against the character of Nana Addo.

“We still have another mess to clean up”, the worried NPP guys told the Africawatch, stressing that whether Nana Poku was jailed for drug trafficking or money laundering didn’t matter as Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko tries to put a whirl on the issue.

To buttress their point as to why the issue involving Nana Poku should not be brushed aside as a mere propaganda tool when raised by the party’s opponents, particularly, members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is that ; the case to them is a big worry for the party.

According the troubled NPP men as reported in the Africawatch Magazine, Nana Poku saga is nerve-racking because of the role he and three others played during the 2008 elections’ campaign, which has today made him a close confident of Nana Addo’s.

Captured by Steve Mallory and his magazine, Nana Poku, together with the likes of Ken Ofori-Atta, Keli Gadzekpo and Edward “Bumpty” Akufo-Addo managed about $47million of Akufo-Addo’s campaign funds from the head office of Data Bank Finanacial Services Limited, in Accra.

According to them, Nana Poku, apart from being a close confidant of the NPP Presidential candidate, is now a very influential member of Akufo-Addo’s inner circle, which is raising funds for the 2012 elections.

“Having someone with a criminal record for money laundering to handle campaign funds may raise new questions about Akufo-Addo’s judgment in selecting staffers”, they pointed out to Africawatch.

Nana Poku’s case has become very embarrassing to the party, to the point where even Akufo-Addo’s supporters are raising questions.

“In this tensed political season, when our opponents are desperately hurling drug allegations against us, how can you explain to the public that you’ve had a criminal, convicted for money laundering near your campaign funds”, a troubled NPP political operative asks, and as indicated in the Africawatch magazine, shook his head in disbelief.

“We cannot go out there and say the candidate wasn’t aware of Nana Poku’s criminal background, but considering the fact that they are cousins, that would be a tough sell”, he added.

Commenting on the issue, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) Naa Kordai Addy, did not miss her words, as she re-echoed the danger of involving ex-convicts in politics and assigning them important key roles to play.

To her, “an ex-convict is a convict” A convict can participate in party politics, but certainly he cannot hold any responsible positions, she added.

“My personal opinion”, Addy added, is that; and this is personal, an ex-convict, when they say a madman has been healed, it means there is a small bit of it left behind to frighten children with.

Once the person has done it before and we want to improve our governance in these days, especially, in the world that we live in now, I think it is very important that if the person has shown the propensity, don’t go and tempt him.

“He can be part of the party, but to allow him to get close to places (like presidential campaign funds), you are tempting the person unnecessarily, and you don’t do that “, Naa Kordai Addy stressed.

Perhaps, Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko will take queue from the strong rebuttal coming from his own party members; and will, therefore, not attempt any such move till he bids good-bye to politics like he has indicated.