As Momentum Gathers For Akufo-Addo’s Removal As Flagbearer
The Catalyst can state with all certainty that the New Patriotic (NPP) is about to explode following overwhelming the conviction of many a party member and supporter courtesy wikileaks that the flagbearer of the party, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, despite vociferous denials of his supporters, actually uses drugs. This paper can state on authority that there is a fierce battle ongoing internally in the NPP as a result of divided opinions as to whether the NPP can go into the 2012 elections and be successful with a drug-laden presidential candidate.
There is a raging storm blowing against Akufo-Addo as leader of the NPP into the 2012 elections and the move is gathering monumental momentum. Loud voices are calling for an emergency special delegates congress to change Nana Akufo-Addo as flagbearer of the party, whiles others who even though agree that the flamboyant flagbearer has become a bad case, hold the view that changing him at this time could be more disastrous for the party than if he is allowed to ‘complete his tenure.’
The Catalyst has learnt that enormous pressure is being brought to bear on Nana Akufo-Addo to consider the larger interest of the party and honourably resign his current position to save it from further embarrassment if he truly loves the NPP as he has always claimed.
Impeccable information available to this paper indicate that those who hold the opinion that Nana Akufo-Addo is no longer fit to lead the party into the 2012 elections because of his drug problem, are threatening to go public with their demand if the ‘arrogant’ flagbearer threats their humble request with the usual contempt.
The crisis in the NPP is a looming disaster for the party since it has the tendency of worsening the party’s already murky situation as far as the flagbearership of Nana Akufo-Addo into the 2012 elections is concerned. This is because this paper has it on authority that the intransigence of the NPP flagbearer in his refusal to throw in the towel and give way for a cleaner person to lead the party into the elections against NDC’s incorruptible and mentally sharp presidential candidate, President John Evans Atta Mills, meant that the NPP has lost the elections in advance.
The paper also picked up sentiments within the NPP that they regret allowing the chairman of the party, Mr. Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey to take them through an early congress. The lamentations derive from the fact that, had the NPP flagbearership congress delayed a bit, the leaked US cables would have informed their wise choice of a presidential candidate and Nana Akufo-Addo would have lost the election to saved the party the current headache it is experiencing as a result of the humiliation associated with the drug use exposé, in particular, on their flagbearer, which will certainly cause them the elections yet again.
Per wikileaks, Mr. Kwesi Pratt, respected Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Dr Kwesi Aning, a researcher at the Kofi Annan International Peace-Keeping Centre (KAIPC) and former United States Ambassador to Ghana, Pamela Bridgewater have all confirmed the overly denied dangerous habit of the NPP flagbearer.
This is how Mr. Kwesi Pratt was captured in the wikileaks report to have put it: "Nana used to smoke a lot of marijuana," Pratt said, "and I'm telling you, a lot. Even in the morning, there used to be a cloud around him and you could see that he was high. But I never saw him do cocaine, and I think that is just an assumption people made."
According to the cables, Dr. Kwesi Aning, who was described as an NPP partisan and advisor to Akufo-Addo, told US offcials “When asked about rumours of Akufo-Addo's cocaine use, Aning admitted that Akufo-Addo had used drugs in his younger days, but that was now "under control." He added cryptically that "you can check with German intelligence on that.”
When profiling the main NPP flagbearer aspirants leading to the NPP congress at Legon in 2007, former US Ambassador to Ghana, Pamela Bridgewater had this to say about the NPP flagbearer:
Nana Akufo-Addo: An ethnic Akyem from the Eastern Region, Akufo-Addo is a formidable contender for the NPP slot. He is respected for his intelligence, political family background, and broad government experience, which includes tenures as Minister of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is reportedly backed by NPP youth and Akyem businessmen. On the other hand, he has poor organizational skills and often comes across as arrogant and formal, which may not play well with many party activists and Ghanaian voters. His reputation as a womanizer and occasional marijuana smoker may also damage him politically.
The NPP has all this while engaged in wholesale denial of its flagbearer’s drug habit, branding it NDC propaganda against its credible presidential candidate. Since the wikileaks publications, that denial appears to have totally vanished. What appears to have nailed the NPP flagbearer firmly this time round on drugs is the stature of those who made the revelation.
Out of the three who have made the categorical statement of drug use by the NPP flagbearer in the leaked cables, the two Ghanaians, Mr. Kwesi Pratt and Dr Kwesi Aning have been very close allies of Nana Akufo-Addo and thus know exactly what they were talking about.
The other, US ambassador to Ghana, Pamela Bridgewater was also authoritative in her assessment of the NPP flagbearer as a drug user and it is difficult to doubt the authenticity of her knowledge of him.
The current internal NPP agitation against Nana Akufo-Addo for his removal as the party’s flagbearer passes for the biggest threat yet to his childhood dream of becoming president of Ghana, for the purpose of upholding the family name in Ghanaian politics. His father, Edward Akufo-Addo was a ceremonial president of Ghana under the second republic, a family tradition that followed the leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) by the flagbearer’s uncle Dr JB Danquah.
For this singular reason, Nana Akufo-Addo, The Catalyst can state, is prepared to fight his internal ‘detractors’ to the last drop of his blood. After all, to him, ‘all die be die.’
