As NPP flagbearer, Nana
Akufo-Addo stumbles from one scandal to the other, desperation is taking the
better part of NPP apparatchiks as they struggle frantically to cover his
‘iniquities’. One of such desperate acts was displayed on Ghana’s political cum
journalistic landscape yesterday when Kweku Baako Jnr and his paper, The New
Crusading Guide, desperate to
prove to Ghanaians that Akufo-Addo met UK’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, at a
private meeting at Number 10 Downing Street in London tried to throw dust into
the eyes of Ghanaians with a well-packaged lie!
Against a back drop of
revelations by the NDC and the pro-NDC media that the claims by NPP leading
figures was a palpable lie, Kweku Baako and his newspaper published a front
page story yesterday with what the claim was proof that the meeting did take
place.
The story, published
under the headline “UK GOV’T WEBSITE
CAPTURES NPP PRESS RELEASE ON NANA-CAMERON MEETING” claimed that “The official
press release issued by the Communications Directorate of
the New Patriotic Party stating the events that took place when the flagbearer
of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and British Prime Minister, David
Cameron, has been placed “word-for-word” on www.government-news.co.uk,
a UK government website dedicated to all news and press releases related to the
UK government”.
Kweku Baako and his newspaper went
on to state that investigations they
have carried out reveal that the website was “created so that everyone can get
access to the latest government news
from all departments as they're released, ensuring that all news and press
releases, no matter how bad, are publicised in one central, easy-to-use
website.”
“This is a confirmation that indeed the
meeting that took place between the NPP flagbearer and the British Prime
Minister on the 10th of November 2011, did in fact take place, an affront to
the peculiar claims by Koku Anyidoho, Director of Communications at the
Presidency who has asked for proof of the meeting ever taking place.” the
Editor-in-Chief
and his paper claimed.
It was to debunk the assertion of the NDC and pro-NDC media that no private
meeting took place between Cameron and Akufo-Addo at Number 10 Downing Street that
Kweku Baako and his newspaper went on to give the address they claim was the
official website of the UK government where the transcript of what transpired
between Cameron and Akufo-Addo had been posted.
“The link
to the website was given as
http://www.government-news.co.uk/10-downing-street/201107/david-cameron-in-afghanistan.asp.
Kweku Baako and his paper then went on to quote Perry Okudjeto, a Deputy
Director of Communication of the NPP as stating that“…the publication of this story
on a website of the UK government is a
confirmation that Nana Akufo-Addo and the British Prime Minister, did in fact
meet”
Daily Post’sown investigations, however, has
revealed that the website address Kweku Baako and his newspaper mischievously published
is not the official website of the UK government. The website is owned by one
Chris Haycock who has registered the website as a UK
individual website. His particulars are as follows;
*Domain name: government-news.co.uk
*Registrant: Chris Haycock
*Registrant type: UK Individual
*Registrant's address: The registrant
is a non-trading individual who has
opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
*Registrar: Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag
= LIVEDOMAINS]
*URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk
*Relevant dates:
Registered on: 25-Oct-2008
Renewal date: 25-Oct-2012
Last updated: 16-Apr-2011
*Registration status: Registered until
renewal date.
*Name servers:
ns1.livedns.co.uk 213.171.192.250
ns2.livedns.co.uk 213.171.193.250
ns3.livedns.co.uk
Further proof that the website is not the official website
of the UK government or Number 10 Downing Street is the fact thatno official
government website in the UK uses .co.uk. All
the official UK government websites use.gov.uk hence the official Number 10 Downing
Street website is www.number10.gov.uk.
The website being quoted by Kweku Baako, the NPP and The New Crusading Guide is a
free portal where individuals can post
their stories. When one clicks on
http://www.government-news.co.uk/10-downing-street/201107/david-cameron-in-afghanistan.aspand
then scrolls down
to locate the two articles said to be relating to the meeting, and then clicks
on those articles, he or she will be taken to ghanaweb, a private
Ghanaian website where the Crusading Guide story is.
This
means that clicking on the website address given by Kweku Baako and his
newspaper will find one ending up with their own story on ghanaweb!
Results
of Daily Post’s investigations so far,
which has been confirmed by sources at Number 10 Downing Street and the UK
Foreign Office reveal that no private meeting between Cameron and Nana
Akufo-Addo was held on Thursday, November 10, 2011. The two met very briefly
during the International Democrats Union Conference. That is all. Why the NPP,
its leading members and apologists are trying to convince Ghanaians that their
flagbearer met David Cameron at a private meeting at Number 10 Downing Street
when no such meeting took place is weird.
For
Kweku Baako, many expect him to still continue to claim that the meeting did
take place just as he swore that the scam CNCTI loan was real and will come; he
definitely will have documents to prove his case!
