Akufo-Addo Government to Have Worst Record in History – Adams

At the pace, President Akufo-Addo is going with his administration, he might set record for the wrong reasons, the National Organizer of the opposition NDC, Kofi Adams has said.

Adams feels several decisions taken by the President could be politically costly, especially his ‘elephant government’ that has come under serious criticisms for the past few days.

Read Also: Nana Addo Running a 'Family and Friends' Government - PPP

“At least the immediate past President distinguished himself with infrastructure development, in the areas of education, health, Aviation, and the massive Circle Interchange project which has made him popular. I believe that this current President also wants to set a record, but for the wrong reasons, either through plagiarism or record appointment of Ministers. That is what the President wants to set his record and this is not good for our economy. It is bad, unacceptable and must be stopped.”

President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday nominated 50 deputies and 4 others to serve as Ministers of State at the presidency and ministries.

This brings his total number of ministers to 110, the highest in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.

In a reaction to the criticisms of his “elephant size government” President Akufo-Addo said, the unprecedented problems confronting Ghana demand a large government to face them.

“I don’t believe that my government in the Fourth Republic has big numbers in view of the swollen challenges,” President Akufo-Addo said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

“These are the background and the circumstances that were facing my government and the people of Ghana, hence they need a new paradigm shift to solve the problems.

“We have a problem and what is the best way? It is better to have men and women capable of serving the nation’s interests and to work to grow the economy…If I succeed, you will soon find out the brouhaha is nothing compared to the success.”


Read: How NDC Gurus Grab ‘Free’ Cars

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, the National Organizer of the largest opposition NDC said the so called bold initiatives of the President, with which he based his large Ministerial appointments on must not be left to plunder the public purse, insisting that the political appointments are added cost to the tax payer.

“The first bold initiative I was expecting from him[Akufo-Addo], was to see him reduce drastically the size of his government. The justification for his action has been that ‘if I succeed, you will soon find out the brouhaha is nothing compared to the success’ what if you fail? Adams questioned.

Read More

Nana Addo Running a 'Family and Friends' Government - PPP

The leadership of the Progressive Peoples Party PPP has accused President Nana Akufo-Addo of running a “family and friends” government in the wake of his appointments of new ministers and other appointees.


Read Also: Ghanaians Are Fast Losing Hope in Akufo-Addo – Omane Boamah

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the national chairman of the PPP, Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond took a swipe at the NPP government for its inability to form an all-inclusive government as promised during the 2016 campaign prior to the presidential and parliamentary elections.

He also indicated that the outlined policies of government will only yield slow pace of development in the country.

“We the PPP are increasingly surprised the that the change in government from NDC to NPP seems to repeat mere changes to personalities occupying high offices and positions of trust in our land and not change in the substantial matters of reorientation.”


Related: List of NDC gurus who grabbed "free cars"

“How does a strictly partisan NPP local government ensure that all Ghanaians get the opportunity to participate in it?” Dr. Brew-Hammond questioned further.

PPP ready to merge with other parties

At the same press conference, the PPP also announced its readiness to merge with other political parties to form an effective third political force in the country.




Read: Over ¢110,546 Oil Money For School Building Missing

Dr. Brew Hammond revealed the PPP was negotiating with some political parties to create a political alliance that would provide a formidable opposition to the ruling government.

‘’It is only by bringing forces together that the dominance of the NPP and NDC duopoly can be broken… The PPP and other political parties would want to stand together now, united to offer disciplined, objective opposition and prove to the people that there is a better choice out there,” Dr. Brew-Hammond, stated.

Read More

How NDC Gurus Grab ‘Free’ Cars

More names of people who acquired state vehicles in the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration are popping up.

About 250 people, mostly ministers of state, appointees, chiefs, journalists and secretaries, were said to have grabbed some of these state vehicles after the assets were ‘privately’ auctioned for pea-nuts, without any public participation.

Clear Breach

DAILY GUIDE currently has a list of all NDC bigwigs who benefited from the auction and the document explains how some of the vehicles which were barely two years old, were sold in clear breach of the law.

The document titled, “Auctioned vehicles for the period December 2016 to January 2017,” indicates date of approval, vehicle registration number, vehicle type, chassis number, present owner/address, new owner/address as well as issuing office.


Read Also: Rawlings Lied – Kufuor

Most of the vehicles were in the name of the Office of the President while a couple of them were in the names of some ministries and agencies.

Strangely, some of the beneficiaries had long left the Mahama administration but managed to grab some of the vehicles.

Big Names

Former sports minister and immediate-past MP for Ayawaso North, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed and Emelia Arthur, a leading NDC member, both grabbed 2013 Toyota Camry while Samuel Yaw Adusei, a former Deputy Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, got 2014 Toyota Camry.

Babanlamine Sadat, Special Assistant to Mahama on Zongo affairs and Mohammed Adamu Ramadan, a presidential staffer, had 2014 Toyota Camry as well as Mawusi Lorlornyo Dzirasa, a secretary at the Office of the President, grabbing 2014 Nissan Teana.

Kofi Abbew Nkrumah grabbed 2014 VW Passat and the present owner has been recorded as Students Loan Trust Fund, while Christopher Tulasi went home with a 2014 Nissan NP 300/UP from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

Raymond Hiame took away a 2014 Nissan Sentra while Antoinette Kailey Ankrah also grabbed a 2014 Toyota Avensis with Baba Jamal, a former deputy minister, taking home a 2012 Toyota Avensis.

Dr. Bernice Adiku Heloo, a former Deputy Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations, grabbed a 2010 Toyota Avensis with Henry Seidu Danaa, a former Minister for Chieftaincy, getting a 2013 Toyota Camry and Joseph Boateng taking home a 2014 Nissan Sentra.

Anthony Obeng Afrane grabbed a 2015 Toyota Corolla from the Office of the President while Kale Cezario grabbed a 2013 Toyota Camry, with Benjamin Fiakuna taking home a 2014 Nissan Sentra.

More Names

Benjamin Affisah took home a 2014 Toyota Camry while former National Security Advisor, William K. Aboah, annexed a 2013 Toyota Camry; Benedicta Micah also took home a 2014 Toyota Avensis.

Lydia Abi and Issah Ibrahim both grabbed a 2014 Toyota Camry and a 2014 Toyota Corolla respectively while both former Central Regional Ministers George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan and Aquinas Tawiah Quansah got a 2013 Toyota Camry each, with Rosetta Olympio, a special assistant to Lordina Mahama, grabbed a 2014 Toyota Avensis.

Sandow Seidu Kpebu, another aide to Lordina Mahama, also grabbed a 2014 Toyota Camry; Francis Nkrumah had a 2015 Toyota Avensis and Kyei John grabbed a 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser from the Ghana Shipper’s Authority while Samuel Ofori Boateng sent home with a 2014 BMW 740i.

Magnus Jacob Yama Tampuri got a 2014 Toyota Fortuner from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Chairperson of the Council of State whose tenure ended recently, Cecilia Johnson, annexed a 2014 Toyota Camry while R. Kofi Nyantakyi took a 2015 Hyundai Elantra home; Frank Annan took home a 2015 Toyota Avensis.

Alfred Amuzu grabbed a 2015 Hyundai Elantra from the Office of the President with a former Chief Director at the Ministry of Petroleum, Prof. T.M. Akabzaa, having a 2013 Toyota Camry; former Local Government Minister, Collins Dauda, also took home a 2013 Toyota Camry.

Doreen Annan took a 2014 Honda Civic from the Ministry of Transport; Cosmos Dikro also took a 2014 Toyota Camry home while Alhaji Alhassan Iddi grabbed a 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser – all from the same ministry – with Isaac Kwaku Mintah taking home a 2014 Toyota Camry from the Energy Commission.

Reverend Abraham Botchwey, former CEO of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, grabbed a 2013 Toyota Camry while Mbui Roland Kofi went away with a 2014 Toyota Camry from the Ghana Revenue Authority; Philip Senyo Tsagli had a 2015 Toyota Camry.

Read More

Rawlings Lied – Kufuor

Former President J.A Kufuor is livid over comments by his counterpart JJ Rawlings that he softened his stance on prosecuting a son of former Speaker of Parliament Peter Ala Adjetey.

“The 31st December Movement suffered bankruptcy in supporting Atta Mills. How many of us bothered to show up in court to offer her moral support in recognition of the foundation she laid in leading the women from the PNDC to the NDC?


Read Also:  Ghanaians are fast losing hope under Akufo Addo - Omane Boamah

“During that trial, Peter Ala Adjetey, the then Speaker of Parliament, whose son, NDC’s well-fed Larry Adjetey, was charged together with my wife, threatened Kufuor that if he did not drop the ‘false’ charge against his son, he would personally go to court to defend his son.

Kufuor dropped his charges.

“How many of these qualities of principled solidarity did we demonstrate towards our own? Instead, people got rewarded with appointments by denigrating and trying to destroy some of us. What money did I not borrow to assist some of our colleagues and comrades who were suffering financially under Kufuor’s regime? Those debts are still on my head today,” Rawlings said in an interview with the state-owned Daily Graphic.

Kufuor has denied Rawlings’ assertion, saying “there is no truth whatsoever in this allegation. I wonder what ails Rawlings to make him always try to impugn my integrity in his interviews.

“It is not true that I tried to prosecute Larry Adjetey but relented because his father, Peter, threatened me.”


Read Also: Ibrahim Mahama Warns Kennedy Agyapong

He added: “The circumstances of his (Rawlings) wife’s (Nana Konadu’s) trial is a matter of public record, available for anybody who cares to verify. Rawlings should stop posturing as the only person of integrity and truth.”

“If he wants to continue to blow trumpets from rooftops about his integrity and incorruptibility, let him do so, but he should leave Kufuor alone,” the former president said in a statement.

Read More

Ibrahim Mahama warns Kennedy Agyapong

Chief Executive of Engineers and Planners, Mr Ibrahim Mahama, has warned acerbic tongue New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, to forthwith, refrain from dragging his hard earned reputation in the mud or face his wrath.

Irked by the incessant but unwarranted and unguarded attacks on his person and family by the foul mouth Assin Donpem-born legislator, Mr Ibrahim Mahama has been narrating how Kennedy Agyepong, for several years without any provocation, has made him his chop stick in the media.

The shrewd entrepreneur and media-shy Engineers and Planners CEO, who is also a younger brother of immediate past president John Mahama, having perhaps had enough of Kennedy Agyapong’s never-ending vituperations in the media, was speaking to well-wishers and friends who thronged his residence to inquire what the problem is between him and the maverick MP.

Most of the people who came to “commiserate” with Mr Ibrahim Mahama following the NPP MP’s recent attacks on him and her late mother; could not fathom why Hon Agyepong, who was only recently adjudged by policy think tank, ODEKRO, as among MPs who never made statements on the floor of parliament in the life of the 6th parliament, would spend much of his time lampooning the business magnate at the least opportunity.

Livid by the shameful behavior of the NPP MP, the former President’s brother intoned: "I don’t go around bragging about what God has blessed me with and I don’t also go round threatening people like what Ken does...but he should know that some people, such me may, not be abrasive publicly as he is but…some of us when we’ve had enough of trash can be as ‘wild’ as the beast.”

Short of sharing exactly what that meant, the usually reclusive and soft spoken Engineers and Planners CEO only told his audience, "go n tell him (Ken) that I can be more ruthless than he thinks he is but, I just respect myself, my family and Ghanaian people hence; I have restrained myself following him into the gutter in spite of his numerous unsubstantiated and wild allegations and most of the time, pure lies.”

"Tell Ken that by the grace of God I have long been blessed before John (John Mahama) became Vice-president and later President... is it my fault that my senior brother climbed to those heights? Is it my fault that I am where I am today…I’m not God to determine others’ future and I’m content with what God has gifted me...I don’t compete with anyone neither do I envy those before me and even those after me. It is God's wish,” he stated.

The NPP Assin Central MP has since the defeat of President John Mahama and the NDC in last December elections picked on Mr Ibrahim Mahama and his family and has on countless occasions made unguarded statements and spurious allegations against him.

In one such unsubstantiated allegation against Mr Ibrahim, the MP who has always promised to expose shady deals of his political opponents but is yet to redeem any of his pledges accused the former President’s brother of dealing in cocaine and stolen cars.

In his usual abrasive no hold bar claims on Oman Fm’s Boiling Point programme, Kennedy Agyapong alleged that President John Mahama’s late step mum, who is also the mother of Ibrahim Mahama, was a drug baron. “She is obsessed with drugs and she baths with it,” he alleged

He also accused Mr Ibrahim Mahama of dealing in stolen cars which he alleged the latter supplies to some prominent chiefs in this country.

Interestingly, checks on the CEO of Engineers and Planners, Ibrahim Mahama who is being accused of involvement in stolen cars revealed that his company is having in its possession over 300 pieces of earth moving equipment, pay loaders, bulldozers, multi-purpose tipper trucks, tankers, pickups etc.
With the attacks becoming one too many, Mr Ibrahim is warning Kennedy Agyapong he has had enough of his gibberish and may be forced to react in like manner “I'm just blessed by God as a young man, I don’t engage in shady deals as Ken has variously alleged neither have I been boastful of where God has placed me...I’m not even directly into politics nor being executive member of my brother's party, the NDC, so what is my offence that should warrant his (Ken) inexorable attacks on me?” Ibrahim queried.

Read More