Mahama forced George Andah to join NPP

As some Ghanaians are puzzled why a “known” sympathizer of the National Democratic Congress, George Andah, opted to contest the Awutu Senya West primary of the opposition New Patriotic Party, The aL-hAJJ can confirm that the marketing guru’s decision was to spite his longtime friend, President Mahama, after being overlooked for the Trade and Industry Ministry post.

Reports indicate that the celebrated marketing giant, having boasted to close friends about his close relations with President Mahama, lobbied to be appointed Trade and Industry Minister but was ignored, and lost out on the 11th hour to Dr Ekow Spio Gabrah.

Deep throat sources in government disclosed to The aL-hAJJ that when President Mahama was elected in the last election, Mr George Andah, who is a leading member of pressure group, OccupyGhana, took advantage of his closeness to the President to lobby for appointment.

“His lobbying was so intense that it was given a further boost when Edward Ato Sarpong, another private sector person, was appointed deputy Communications Minister. Even before Ato Sarpong’s appointment, George Andah was assured of a place in His Excellency’s government and indeed, he was told his name will feature in the next reshuffle. He was penciled for the Trade and Industry Ministry and he almost got it,” a dependable source at the seat of government disclosed.

However, the former MTN Ghana marketing manager, the source asserted, lost out after a thorough background check on him by the national security disputed his supposed loyalty to the party and government.

As part of a tactical plan, Geroge Andah was later to join forces with middle class citizens, Occupy-flagstaff-house, in a botched attempt to seize the seat of government on July 1, 2014 which finally cost him the ministerial appointment.

The aL-hAJJ gathered that George Andah’s decision to join the likes of Ken Ofori Atta, Ace Ankoma, Franklin Cudjoe, Kofi Bentil et al, was to serve two main purposes. First, to demonstrate to the world he is non-partisan, and also to signal the President that “if he does not speed up on his appointment, he could deploy his expertise to aide his colleagues, the elite, to mess-up his government”

However, Mr Andah’s plans seemed to have backfired as less than two weeks after he participated in July 1, 2014 ‘Afrikiko pizza-eating-protest march’, one time flagbearer aspirant of the NDC, Dr Spio Gabrah was nominated to the position he was earlier promised.

This, among other things, The aL-hAJJ gathered, angered the marketing maestro who then decided to go for the “kill” by joining his colleagues to transform occupy-flag-staff house into what is now called Occupy-Ghana, to make government unpopular.

To consolidate his hitherto furtive plan, Mr Andah has been compelled to announce his intension to contest the upcoming primaries of the opposition New Patriotic Party in the Awutu Senya West constituency, hoping to topple NDC’s Hannah Serwaa Tetteh in the 2016 elections.

Questions have arisen concerning his NPP membership, especially when there has been rumors that he is a known sympathizer of the ruling NDC party, and has in the past financially supported some parliamentary candidates of the NDC.

The Herald newspaper recently revealed that Mr Andah has been a well-known sympathizer of the NDC and has used his links in the ruling party to land lucrative contracts including his Chief Operating Officer job with Nigeria’s telecommunications giant, Glo Mobile.

The paper also alleged that, as an NDC sympathizer, George Andah made huge financial contributions to the NDC while in opposition and channeled resources to some NDC parliamentary candidates to dislodge NPP candidates.