THE OHENE NTOW I KNOW

I was amused to have heard Nana Ohene Ntow, former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) run riot on radio this morning in an attempt to defend the indefensible.
He ended up attacking DAILY GUIDE, running down the paper and saying a few nasty things I would rather not repeat. Ohene Ntow simply reminded me of ‘Nze’, the bird that challenged his ‘chi’ –personal god- in Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’, after over eating.
Though he came across as someone exhibiting the symptoms of two personal poisons – arrogance and egoism of the soul, his utterances won my sympathy rather than my annoyance.
I have known him since he was General Secretary and was a political reporter. I went to him quite often for interviews and on each occasion, I (and many of my colleagues) tolerated his pompous character because I had done some reading on him and learnt he was not a ‘politician’ who had gone through the mill but rather a broadcast journalist who by fate or sheer coincidence, found himself as the Chief scribe of a major political party.
He often had an overrated lofty impression of himself and went about his duties with an air on empty importance. Many times, all he did was talk talk talk and talk and press conferences…he loved the cameras and would often take off his spectacles, wear them again and flash a dry smile before he allowed a picture of him to be taken for the newspapers.
Eventually he ended up as the General Secretary who took his party into opposition. By then, not many knew he was of the opinion Nana Akufo Addo, his party’s presidential candidate was not the best material to have been put forward.
Soon after his party lost power, Nana Ohene Ntow I believe must have learnt, through negative experience, that it is better to be a messenger in a ruling party than the General Secretary of a party in opposition.
Suddenly the ‘all powerful’ Ohene Ntow , after leading his party to political defeat, was reported to have become a squatter in a government bungalow where his wife had transformed a portion of the house into a shito production and export factory just to earn an extra living (http://elections.peacefmonline.com/pages/politics/200908/25611.php).
Such embarrassing reports on Ohene Ntow has continued till date and even barely a year ago, The Herald reported that he was likely to face court over his failure to settle a ¢37 million hotel bill he accumulated since 2011, but sneaked out leaving behind his shirts, trousers, “supporters”, ID cards, photographs and other personal effects. (http://elections.peacefmonline.com/pages/politics/201305/163396.php)
He should continue to attack and insult and run down people whose view he finds not to be the same as his just as he did when the NPP was put in his care and he took the party into opposition.
Indeed, if the pro-NPP media has told the party some 20 percent truth in 2008, the party would not have lost the elections. Rather, they were urged on even when it was glaring that some of their decisions reflected lazy thinking.
Once again, some elements in the NPP are rehearsing for another political defeat (perhaps on purpose) and they expect all others to cheer them on.
– HALIFAX WRITES.
Monday august 18, 2014
Twitter:@HalifaxAnsahAdd

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NDC Boss In Motorbikes Scandal

By Halifax Ansah-Addo

Daily Guide of Monday November 29, 2010.

The Daily Guide newspaper has discovered that the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) is allegedly releasing confiscated motorbikes and cars to some constituency chairmen of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for distribution to selected party members and foot-soldiers.

While one of such NDC chairmen is in trouble for having received six of such motorbikes but keep them as hispersonal property, Daily Guide has seen a couple of documents in which government has allegedly written to the CEPS Commissioner that some more motorbikes should be released for NDC party work.

The NDC Chairman for Dome Kwabenya constituency, Alhaji Abdul Basit Mohammed, who was recently given six of such motorbikes purposely for party work, is currently being chased by his party members after reports went round that he had sold all six bikes and pocketed the money.

When Daily Guide contacted Alhaji Basit Mohammed, he confessed that it was the Municipal Chief Executive of the Ga East Municipal Assembly, John Quao Sackey, who gave him a letter to be delivered to the CEPS Commissioner so six motorbikes would be released to him for party work.

Alhaji Basit explained however that he did not give the bikes to the party because he had imported some six motorbikes but they got sized by CEPS officials so the Municipal Chief Executive forged the said letter for him so he could use it to get back his seized bikes.
The chairman said it was the same imported bikes that were confiscated that were eventually released to him so there was no sense in releasing them to the party. He promised to provide some documents to show that indeed he had imported some six motorbikes but they got confiscated by CEPS officials.

The NDC chairman conceded that though the wording of the letter said the bikes were to be used for party work, that information as only put there by John Quao Sackey to help him clear his seized bikes.
The letter that was addressed to the CEPS Commissioner was written on the official letterhead to the Ga East Municipal Assembly and signed by its Chief Executive on January 12, 2010.

It reads: “Request for the allocation of motorbikes. The Dome Kwabenya Constituency is a new constituency and therefore lacks facilities to enable it achieve growth and developmental programmes successfully. “Our main hindrance is transportation. We shall be grateful if you can allocate us with six (6) of the confiscated motorbikes for use in the constituency. “Alhaji Abdul Basit Mohammed is the Chairman of eh constituency and responsible for social affairs in the Constituency who will use the bikes for the benefit of the constituency.

“We have also discussed this with the Chairman of the Council of State Professor Kofi Awoonor. We count on your co-operation.”
Though Alhaji Basit Mohammed is insisting the letter was only forged to help him clear his personal bikes, Daily Guide’s checks for CEPS show that such an arrangement would have been criminal.
“When you import motorbikes, there is an amount of money you pay on it and it is higher than what you pay when seized bikes are being sold to you on allocation. What you are saying means that the person used the forged letter to invade tax on his seized bikes and that is equally criminal on his part just as whoever forged the letter for him,” CEPS sources explained.

Further checks from the Council of State revealed that Prof. Kofi Awoonor was not even aware his name was being used to clear confiscated motorbikes for selected chairmen of the NDC.

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