2009 ~ Ghanaian Journalist Halifax Ansah-Addo

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Akwapim Chief Wild Over Sex....“…Arse-hole…Motherfucker…I’ll Shoot You…”

News-One of Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009

Talks making the rounds are that the Tufuhene of Akropong- Akwapim, Nana Yaw Ampem Darko, known in private life as George Darko of ‘Ako Te Brofo’ fame, may be one of the persons behind the pornography sex scandal that hit the area recently.
Though the reports are not yet confirmed, George Darko, an ace musician, has denied that he was one of the persons who got a number of girls from the area to strip naked and allow their photos to be taken for a pornographic production which would be sold in Germany.
News-One gathered that when Happy FM in Accra first broke the story, George Darko went to the station twice to deny that he had a his involvement in the scandal though his name had not been mentioned.
He had also spent a good part of his life in Germany, they very country where the said pornography is believed to be on sale and when News-One visited the Akropong area, several residents said it is strongly suspected that George Darko may have something to do with the matter.
The Chief cum musician got very angry and screamed all sorts of vulgarisms, curses and threats when News-One asked him of the reports. Below are excerpts of the interaction between George Darko and the News-One reporter.
Nana George Darko: You are a stupid idiot; a motherfucker arse-hole. Don’t ask me such a stupid question again. Do you hate me? Or is it the name George Darko you hate? Have I called your girl friend?
Reporter: I don’t have a problem with you.
Nana George Darko: Why would you put such a calamity on me? Tell me one reason.
Reporter: I have not done what you are alleging.
Nana George Darko: Look my brother if I had a gun in front of me, I would have killed you. I swear my father. I swear God, I would have killed you.
Reporter: You are threatening the life of a journalist with a gun
Nana George Darko: And so what
Reporter: And you call yourself a Chief?
Nana George Darko: If I have not done something and you want to soil my reputation what do you want me to do? I have worked for my name and I respect my name and I know what God has done for me and I don’t want you to tarnish my reputation.
Reporter: I asked you a simple question and you insulted everything on me; from my motherfucker to me arse-hole.
Nana George Darko: And so what?
Reporter: And so you are being unfair to me.
Nana George Darko: Your motherfucker and so what? You are soiling me reputation and it is your motherfucker you are concerned about? What you told me was that you hear I am one of the persons behind this thing….
Reporter: Don’t I have the right to hear things?
Nana George Darko: You have the right to hear things and so what?
Reporter: And don’t I have the right to ask questions?
Nana George Darko: You have done your conclusions before asking the questions. How can I George Darko indulge in such a shameful act? You should not have even mentioned that and let me tell you have thrown the baby away with the bath water okay?
Reporter: Nana, I would lodge a complaint of threat to murder against you.
Nana George Darko: I don’t care….You should have asked me that what is going on and I would tell you everything. But when you ask me that you have heard I am one of the people behind this thing, charley, I swear God, I swear my God-damn motherfucker, I swear my stool and everything, that look, I don’t know you but anyway God save you.
About 200 of the said photos available to News-One appeared completely different from the ones in the conventional pornographic magazines. Many of the girls had horrible “vital statistics” with very bushy and unkempt pubic hairs.
While some appeared to be teenagers and had sores and blisters on their bodies, others were nursing mothers with pot bellies and even went along with their babies. Many of them even had unclean panties aka ‘pioto’, with holes in them.

Ghana’s Creeping Lunacy

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Jaws dropped in Ghana when news broke that two adult men, including a primary school teacher, had been stripped naked and paraded in town by some armed soldiers on official duty in the Northern sector of the country.
Neighbors of the two naked men who attempted to go to their rescue were beaten and shoved aside as the men were marched to a basic school in the community and mocked before several children including some pupils of one of the naked men.
The episode is not different from what Ghanaian soldiers do to any civilian they spot wearing any form of military camouflage material. Even when the camouflage has not been sown as an army uniform, the wearer would still be forced to remove it and hand over immediately. Yet many boutiques in Ghana have on sale designer clothing in the form of military camouflage.
The Ghana Armed Forces has been silent over this widely-spread development and it was thus not unexpected that once again, the military command came out to publicly deny the strip-naked story, even when the military had not conducted any form of investigations into the matter.
A fortnight later, Daily Guide, the paper I work for, produced a secret video recording of the episode. The video captured the two men being assaulted by soldiers dressed as if they were going to war. The two men had been stripped completely naked and were bleeding, apparently from severe torture they had endured from the soldiers.
The video also captured the soldiers pushing the muzzle of their guns into the mounts of the naked men whose hands had been tied at their backs.
Though the video captured the faces of the soldiers behind the abuses, no arrests had been made and many several other Ghanaians are continuously forced by soldiers to go naked in public anytime they are spotted wearing any form of military camouflage.
The insanity is gaining grounds and makes raised doubts whether indeed Ghana still deserves to be touted as an ‘icon of democracy in Africa’ where rule of law is respected.
In the Ghanaian culture, it is sacrilegious for a man to be forced to walk in town naked. It is taken that such a man has been stripped of his dignity, honor and self respect. It is tantamount to killing his very soul.

NDC Funded From Nigeria

Story By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of June 22, 2009

POLITICAL FEATHERS have been ruffled in the Rivers State of Nigeria over revelations that an amount of $3.5 million of Nigerian taxpayer’s money was secretly given to Ghana’s ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to help the party finance its 2008 election campaign.

The laws of Ghana do not permit political parties to solicit sponsorship from a foreign country or non-Ghanaians.

The Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, is accused of having given out the said amount to the NDC and that it was allegedly channeled through former President Jerry John Rawlings, who visits the Rivers State quite often and is a personal friend of the governor’s.

Pointblanknews.com, a Nigerian-based online media house, first broke the news and the publisher, Jackson Ude, in a telephone interview with DAILY GUIDE alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently investigating Governor Amaechi for money-laundering and financial misappropriation.

The report claimed that “according to credible sources, part of the money that Amaechi is struggling to reconcile in the books may have actually gone into providing funds for the ruling party in Ghana, an alleged contribution to the election of incumbent Ghanaian President, John Atta Mills. A whopping Four Hundred Million, about $3.5 million, was allegedly transferred to facilitate the process in Ghana.

“Former Ghanaian dictator, Flight Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Retired), has been identified as the alleged conduit through which the huge sums were transferred to the ruling party in Ghana.

Rawlings has been a regular visitor to Rivers State. Another individual identified as a courier for Governor Amaechi is one Nyeson Wike, an aide to Amaechi.

“Amaechi is said to have also invested several millions in blue chip companies in Ghana. He and other Governors in Nigeria are said to have devised a new strategy of investing stolen loots from Nigeria to neighboring countries, and Ghana with its seemingly stable economy has become a favored destination. In the last one year, Amaechi is said to have stashed away over one billion Naira to selected companies in Ghana, in a manner designed to beat the watchful eyes of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who are still investigating the State for money laundering.”

Jackson Ude told DAILY GUIDE that the Office of the Rivers State Governor has decided not to comment on the allegation with an excuse that that the office is already being investigated for other financial issues.

DAILY GUIDE could also not get the Governor to comment on the story as attempts to reach him proved futile and he did not reply several e-mails sent to him to request for an interview.

CHOICE FM UNDER ATTACK

Story by Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Friday, June 19, 2009.
CHOICE FM, an Accra based private radio station, has been ordered not to broadcast a political current affairs programme it intends to start airing from this Saturday.
Promotional adverts for the programme, ‘Ghana Speaks’ has already started running on air when the station was yesterday warned that it would be broadcasting the program at the risk of the Host losing his life and the station running into problems.
Choice Fm belongs to Fred Oware, who was recently sacked by government from his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Hydro Energy Development Project.
The threatening order, which was first sent in the form of a telephone call and a sms text message from a telephone number 0244371682, was reinforced by three men who stormed the station yesterday and introduced themselves to the General Manager, Raymond Afaga-Chie, as National Security agents.
The agents, said they had ‘orders from above’ to order the station not to broadcast the program because the promotional advert was injurious to the government in power and the Host, Martin Adjei-Mensah, is a know student leader of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Mr. Raymond Afaga-Chie in an interview with Daily Guide yesterday said the three intruders appeared mean and demanded to have a blue print of the programme’s contents and synopsis for the weeks to come.
“They were shouting on me to tell them the aim of the programme but I asked them to listen to the promo because it says it all and moreover we are a private station so I am not accountable to them in any way.
“I was surprised that they did not want to show their ID cards and when I insisted, one of them went back to the car only to come back and say they were from National security so I better cooperate with them in my own interest” Mr. Afaga-Chie added.
The promo of the programme raises questions on whether or not the new government had lived up to expectation in the last six months or it had been given more than it can handle.
The threatening sms which was sent to Martin Adjei-Mensah’s phone read: “How can you, a onetime serving President of TESCON NPP wing host a programme; it is because you want to be biased. You useless bastard. Stars it and you will see if you want to see something. BIG FOOL. We would finish you.”
Though Adjei-Mensah admitted he was a former President of the students’ wing of the NPP at the University of Ghana Legon, he said the programme would be an objective one and would follow the ethics of broadcasting.
Choice Fm says it would go ahead to air the programme this Saturday at 7pm and the issue had been reported to the Police for investigations.

Story by Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Thursday June 18 2009

STEPHEN ASAMOAH-Boateng, the ‘most wanted’ former Information Minister, yesterday packed his toothbrush and paste, cosmetics and toiletries, cloths and boxer shorts plus a King James bible and followed his wife; pretty-faced Zuleika to the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
National Security agents, yesterday morning, pounced on Zuleika at her residence in an attempt to arrest her after they had gone to the Tantra Hill residence of her mother to throw their weights about and issue wild threats of arrest.
Asamoah-Boateng’s family packed their toiletries and panties to the BNI because they are unsure on when and if they would be given back their freedom to return home; already, his sister-in-law, 25-year old Yasmin Damoah, who was arrested without charge last Tuesday morning passed the night at the bureau and it is uncertain when she would be released or allowed to speak to her lawyers.
Perhaps, Asamoah- Boateng’s years of experience from living as in exile as a political refugee has taught him a few lessons in responding to invitations from national security greyhounds; especially when such invitations are politically motivated.
The untamed hunt for Zuleika and her relatives is part of a government agenda to throw the hangman’s noose on the neck of her husband, Mr. Asamoah-Boateng, over reports that an in-law of his had shares in a company that won an GHC86, 915.85 government contract last year.
Reports are that a top government official has whispered to the President that Mr. Asamoah-Boateng wrongly influenced the award of the said contract to Plexiform, thus the BNI has been unleashed to do a meticulous investigation to prove the allegation so as to get the ex-Minister under lock and key.
Zuleika’s arrest yesterday has to do with allegations from government that she “obstructed justice” when she dramatically snatched her husband’s passport from some BNI agents at the Kotoka International Airport last Sunday and kept it on a part of her body where no sane man would dare remove.
This happened after the said agents ambushed Asabee, Zuleika and their two kids aged four and two at the Airport and physically prevented them from boarding a British Airways flight to London; flight after delaying for an hour, was eventually ordered to off-load the checked-in luggage of Asamoah-Boateng and his family.
The agents, who refused to disclose their identity cards, claimed Asabee could not travel because he was to report to the BNI the next day; they seized his passport and those of his family and he was neither told the reason for the invitation nor shown any arrest warrant.
Asabee had since rejected the invitation and insisted that he would only respond to a formal invitation and not a verbal one from agents who would not disclose their identity.
Deputy Minister for Information, Okudjato Ablakwa, in an interview on the issue said “Stephen Asamoah-Boateng is being investigated for corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of office.”
Meanwhile, Plexiform upon completion of the contract has not been paid as a result of a presidential directive that the payment should be halted.
The Acting Chief Director at the Ministry, D.A.Y. Sampong, apparently displeased over the issue, has fired a letter to the Office of the President, asking that the President authorizes the release of funds for the payment of the contract because the Ministry went through “the necessary procurement processes to award the contract to M/S Plexiform Ventures”.
The Ag Chief Director noted that “the Ministry was on the verge of issuing the cheque to the company when a directive was received from the office of the President that all payments should not be made prior to approval by the Office of the President.”
The contract was awarded after it had properly gone through tender and the Ministry’s Entity Tender committee, of which Mr. Asamoah-Boateng was not a member, had accepted the Evaluation Report and unanimously agreed that out of the three companies that bid for the contract, Plexiform Ventures stood tall in aptitude, yet had the lowest price quotation and period to execute the contract.

One for T.B. Joshua, Shame on them!

Halifax Ansah-Addo writes from News-One Courtyard

Walahi Talahi, my Lord, I have never heard of this before; a Man of God in this Africa of ours telling his church members not to bring him gifts on his birthday but to rather send the gifts to the poor, widows and the destitute in society. For where?
He said this with his own mouth my Lord, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations; Lagos, Nigeria said it. He said it just like that without thinking of the several wads of crisp currency he was blocking from entering his bank accounts.
He did not only say this strange thing my Lord, but he also refused to enjoy the sexy damsels who say they were sent to his church to seduce him to enter their panties. The damsels spoke for themselves and said they were sent from Mama Water; what those of you who love big words call Mermaid, to give the Man of God some hot bouts of sex.
Every now and then, these Mama water girls flock his church wearing all kinds of transparent handkerchiefs just to get to know the length and size of his rod of Moses.
There was this particular woman who painted her face with tones of Mascara and lipolipo who left her house before cockcrow; she took Okada to the Synagogue church only to grab the microphone to tell the congregation that God had sent her to tell T.B. Joshua that he should and must marry her immediately. Haaaba? The man already has a wife and he has not made mention of divorcing her to go in for a Lady from the Spintext road.
I believe this lipolipo woman might have even armed herself with an Aganzi condomn ready for action; she might even have gone wet already by merely looking at the Prophet’s moustache but let me not deviate too much from the substantive issue at stake.
My Lord you must judge this case because this T.B. Joshua man is perhaps the most criticized Pastor of our time; he has even been banned from the assembly of pastors in his country on allegations that he is an occult leader masquerading as an Apostle of Christ.
Yet the very pastors who are chewing his tails and gulping it down with a glass of red vodka have not given one single charge in the bible of which T.B. Joshua has failed to obey.
Even a sinner like me can easily tell that the loud mouthed critics are clearly judging the Man when the very bible they claim to preach has asked them not to judge others. See the pots calling the kettles black.
Despite my sin, I know the bible says in the book of Luke Chapter 6 vs 37 that “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven”
I am quoting from the proper bible my Lord, I mean the King James Version and it was Jesus Himself speaking here.
Oh somebody should get the offering ready.
So what are they saying? Even if indeed, T.B. Joshua was an occult leader what have they done to convert him to Christ and is his crime beyond forgiveness? See these funny people Ooo; they have logs of timber stuck in their eyes yet they want to remove a tooth pick from another person’s eye.
My Lord, whiles T.B. Joshua is asking his church members to give his birthday parcels to the poor, we see other churches asking their congregation to pay a special offering which is given directly to the pastor anytime he says it is ‘Pastor’s Day’ and those of us who do not have much to give them are made to feel like a gang of ungrateful demons.
My Lord, some churches also have something called Pastor’s Appreciation Day, Pastor’s Wife Day and Pastor’s Birthday and Pastor’s Wedding Anniversary Day and many other such days where church members are told to carry gifts to pastor.
My Lord, if indeed T.B. Joshua is an occult leader why are the “True Men of God” not calling on their “True God” to expose him? Why are they fighting for the “True God”? Is He defenseless before T.B. Joshua?
And My Lord, if at the end of the day it comes to light that T.B. Joshua is a true man of God, would his critics move round the world to retract the insults and injurious materials they have put out about him?
Tell me My Lord, do these Pastors have the right to judge, condemn and sack one of their own- Prophet Temitope Balogun of the Synagogue Church of All Nations Church?

NPP gurus face arrest

Story by: Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Friday June 12, 2009

THE GOVERNMENT of Ghana has frozen the constitutional rights of New Patriotic Party (NPP) gurus and former government officials to have legal representation when they are invited to national security facilities for interrogation.
Lawyers who followed, Frank Agyekum, former deputy Minister of Information and Sammy Crabbe, Greater Accra NPP chairman, ordered to report to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for interrogation yesterday on separate cases were kicked out of the interrogation hall with an excuse that it was an ‘instruction from above’.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that Sammy Crabbe, who was invited through a phone call on Tuesday to report at the BNI, was threatened with arrest and detention because he insisted that he wanted to have his lawyer present during his interrogation.
Mr. Crabbe was also hesitant in answering questions posed to him because the issue at stake was before court. His action drew the ire of the BNI operatives who threatened to put him under arrest.
Contrary to Article 14 section 2 of the 1992 constitution which states:
“A person who is arrested, restricted or detained shall be informed immediately, in a language that he understands, of the reasons for his arrest, restriction or detention and of his right to a lawyer of his choice”, frantic requests from the invited politicians that they have the right to legal representation was turned down.
“The BNI claimed my client was not under arrest and that we were invited for a friendly chat but I, his lawyer, cannot sit-in to listen to what questions he would be asked and that my client can also not turn down the request for the friendly conversation, else he would be arrested,” Kwame Acheampong Boateng, lawyer for Mr. Crabbe, told DAILY GUIDE.
Mr. Acheampong said they got to the BNI around 9:00 am and were asked to see a certain Nii Lamptey who claimed that his client was invited for a friendly chat.
However, he said they left their phones and cars behind and they were driven past Gold House near Kawukudi.
The BNI, Mr. Crabbe’s lawyer said, told him that he was not part of the friendly chat, wondering if they were operating under Ghana’s constitution.
Mr. Acheampong said after some back and forth exchanges, his client went in for about 45 minutes, following which he was asked to go.
Former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, was also denied the right to legal counsel when he was invited to report to the BNI recently. His lawyers claimed they were put in a room, four doors away from where Mr. Mpiani was being questioned.
Interestingly, though Mr. Crabbe was ordered to report to the BNI office at Ridge in Accra, he was on arrival shoved into a vehicle and whisked to another security facility where he was quizzed about the Ghana International Airlines (GIA).
DAILY GUIDE gathered that Mr. Crabbe was tight-lipped during the encounter and was said to have told his interrogators that the issue was before a court of competent jurisdiction, thus, passing official comments would amount to prejudicing the court process.
He has been asked to report for another grilling session next Tuesday.
Frank Agyekum, spokesperson for ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, was also interrogated by the BNI yesterday on a GH¢86,915.85 contract he signed at the Ministry of Information when he served as Deputy Minister.
The said contract, which was signed in November 2008 after having gone through tender, was awarded to Plexiform Ventures for the renovation of the offices and washrooms at the Information Ministry.
Mr. Agyekum said he was interrogated in the absence of his lawyers, but the “chat was civil and cordial”.
However, his lawyer was allowed to read over his statement before they left the BNI facility.
During a similar invitation from the BNI to the former Foreign Affairs Minister, Akwasi Osei-Adjei, his passport was seized under circumstances described as unacceptable by legal pundits.

Mills’ Man Trade Blows

As Told By: Halifax Ansah-Addo

Daily Guide of Wednesday June 10, 2009

THE STUDIOS of Asempa Fm in Accra was momentarily turned into a boxing ring yesterday morning when Alhaji Ibrahim Bature, a close confidant of President John Mills and a notable activist on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) pounced on a studio guest and severely punched him with a couple of wicked and hefty blows as if he was a professional boxer training with a punching-bag.

Alhaji Bature was reported to have pounced angrily on his pry, Omari Wardie; former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman for Ayawaso West because the later held a view contrary to his during a studio discussion.

Daily Guide gathered that if not for the timely intervention of staff of the station who rushed in to hold back Alhaji Bature, he would have inflicted further havoc on his victim.

“Your information is true, he gave me a combination of a slap and a blow and it was painful I must confess; not that I could not have hit him back but I am a gentle man other than that I could have floored Bature; he is not my match at all. You let him try it next time.” Mr. Wardie told Daily Guide.

Alhaji Bature, when contacted on phone to ascertain if he indeed lost his temper and assaulted a man in public, simply said he would not comment on the issue.

“I have no comments to make; if that is why you are calling me and this is what you want to talk about then I have no comments” was his response to the Daily Guide.

When the paper attempted to probe further to get Alhaji Bature to understand that it was just fair and proper to get his side of the story, he started to sound upset and yelled into the handset: “Halifax you must understand me I did not know that this is what you want to talk about that was why I asked you to call back; I thought it was something else that I could be of help but with this I said I have no comments”.

Daily Guide gathered that Alhaji Bature got angry and started to beat up Omari wardie when the later challenged him to prove a claim he had Wardei that the government had relocated former President Kufuor into another office building at Airport Residential Area after throwing him out of his Ridge office.

“When he said Kufuor had been relocated and given another office, I made it clear to him that it is not true and that no such arrangement had been done but he got angry and assaulted me; it sounds strange but he did it” Wardie noted.