REASONS WHY YOU MUST VOTE FOR PRESIDENT NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFADDO AND NOT JOHN MAHAMA

REASONS WHY YOU MUST VOTE FOR PRESIDENT NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFADDO AND NOT JOHN MAHAMA

1.      If you have your brother, sister, daughter, son, cousin, niece, nephew or any member of your family enjoying Free SHS, then you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he is the Ghanaian leader who introduced this life-changing policy which has touched every home. It is the policy that is helping to secure the future of over 1.3million Ghanaian youth who would have otherwise been denied access to secondary education. You must not vote for John Mahama because he is the biggest threat to the Free SHS policy.

John Mahama had told us he didn’t believe in Free Education; he sponsored over 42 adverts against Free SHS and said, it was a hoax/419; he organized demonstrations against the policy; he said if he had GHc2billion, he wouldn’t waste that money on a policy like Free SHS; he sent his “surrogate”, Mahama Ayariga, to the Supreme Court to try and stop the implementation of the Free SHS policy.

He told us he would review the Free SHS policy if he became President. Obviously, reviewing a policy that you say you don’t believe in simply and logically means you want to cancel the policy. Free SHS is certainly not safe under a John Mahama presidency. He would frustrate the policy and use that as a basis to cancel it because John Mahama thinks that Free SHS is an Akufo-Addo legacy. You must therefore vote for President Akufo-Addo in order to protect the Free SHS policy.

If you are a native of Dagbon, you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he was the only Ghanaian leader who was able to show leadership in bringing lasting peace to the kingdom of Dagbon thereby ending the century old Dagbon chieftaincy crisis. John Mahama did nothing about the crisis even though he had consistently politicized the crisis for undeserving electoral advantage and even included it in their party Manifesto.

3.      If you are from any of the six newly created regions, you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he was the Ghanaian leader who was able to grant the over 50 year old wishes of your people to have a separate region for purposes of accelerating the development of their jurisdictions. John Mahama refused to grant them their wish despite the several petitions they brought to his office, during his reign demanding for separate regions. He treated them with contempt.  

4.      If you are a teacher trainee or nursing trainee, you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he restored your allowance, and with him as President, you do not stand the risk of losing your allowance after 2020. John Mahama was the President who canceled your allowance, and is determined to cancel it again in the unlikely event that he wins the elections.

5.      If you do not want to experience dumsor, then you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he has been able to resolve the dumsor crisis and demonstrated that, with him at the helm of affairs, Ghanaians will not experience dumsor again. You must not vote for John Mahama because he subjected us to four years of excruciating dumsor crisis with many people losing their lives and livelihoods. John Mahama cannot just be trusted to keep the lights on.

6.      If you are a beneficiary of NABCO, NEIP, plating for food and jobs etc or you have any member of your family enjoying these laudable Akufo-Addo policies, then you must vote for President Akufo-Addo. You must not vote for John Mahama because he doesn’t believe in these policies and intends to cancel them if he wins the elections.

7.      If you believe in leadership of service, respect and dignity, you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he has amply demonstrated these traits in his handling of our national affairs. You must not vote for John Mahama because he is arrogant and does not respect the ordinary Ghanaian. He had used expressions like “yentie obiaa”, “you are not qualified to criticize me if you haven’t been President before”, “sakawa”, “when it comes to violence nobody can match the NDC”, “baloney”, “useless”, “mafia” and “stupidity” to refer to a section of Ghanaians with whom he had issues.

8.      If you believe in leadership of compassion, you must vote for President Akufo-Addo because he has proven to be a compassionate leader. During crisis, he implements policies to cushion the poor. For instance, in these times of Covid-19 and its associated socioeconomic impact, President Akufo-Addo has given us free water, free electricity, free food, business support schemes among other mitigating measures to make us cope with the times.

You must not vote for John Mahama because during crisis, John Mahama does nothing to cushion the poor. When we had dumsor during his administration, instead of implementing mitigating measures, John Mahama was rather implementing escalating measures such as increasing electricity and water tariffs to worsen the plight of the poor.

Ghana has made significant progress under the first term presidency of President Akufo-Addo. He had laid a solid foundation for the socioeconomic reconstruction of our country. President Akufo-Addo is certainly deserving of our votes. Let us vote for him to protect the progress made in Free SHS, national ambulance service, 1D1F, planting for food and jobs, unprecedented national digitization agenda, restoration of trainee allowance, NABCO and many others. Forward, we match to the glory of God and country.

Assalamu alaikum

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#ForGodAndCountry

muhayudeen2007@yahoo.com

 

 

 

A PRESIDENTIAL TICKET WITHOUT AN ECONOMIST IS SUICIDAL FOR A POST COVID-19 REPUBLIC

A PRESIDENTIAL TICKET WITHOUT AN ECONOMIST IS SUICIDAL FOR A POST COVID-19 REPUBLIC

Iddi Muhayu-Deen’s folder

The economy, they say, is the cause, and every other thing is the effect. Throughout history, this statement has proven to be true in all jurisdictions. It was true yesterday, it is true today, and it shall remain true forever. So, get your economy right and every other thing will be right and the vice versa. It takes a strong economy to support the implementation of a Free SHS intervention. It takes a strong economy to support and sustain the restoration of teacher trainee and nursing trainee allowance.

It takes a strong economy to successfully exit an IMF programme and all its draconian conditionality. It takes a strong economy to support and sustain the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO). It takes a strong economy to support a government’s digitization agenda. And indeed, it takes a strong economy to sustain every sector of our national life including the Agric, Industry, Health, and Education sectors among others.

Fortunately, every person living in Ghana and abroad who has followed developments in the country, at least in the last decade or two, will attest to this undisputed Ghanaian reality. It certainly cannot be doubted that during the entire 8-year period of the Mills and Mahama NDC administration, none of the aforementioned interventions was possible. This is because, as the then President, H.E. John Mahama said one time in Parliament, the economy [Ghana] was down to the bone, and so, there was little to support government’s pro-poor policies and interventions.

And please, do not get it twisted. A strong economy is not achieved by chance or luck. It is not achieved by mere coincidence. It takes competent men with strong economic background and foresight at the helm of affairs to be able to achieve a strong economy. This was what the NDC lacked, and as we all know, it is exactly what the current NPP government and indeed the Bawumia-led Economic Management Team is providing. And it is the reason why this government has been able to implement almost all of its flagship campaign promises.

Another statement of fact is that the need to have competent economist(s) run this country at the highest level of governance has been made even more COMPELLING following the outbreak of Covid-19, which has had and continues to have huge debilitating impacts on the economies of countries across the globe. Even the world’s biggest economic superpowers like the United States, the Germanys and the Chinas are struggling to survive the ravaging impact of Covid.

Of course, the Ghanaian economy, just like every other economy in the world, has also been hit hard by Covid. There is however the indication that Covid will not be with us forever. But, the biggest concern of all countries is how to reorganize themselves to withstand the deadly impact of Covid now and in its aftermath. In other words, the biggest priority of all countries is how to fix their economies.

And likewise, here in Ghana, if we ever needed an economist to manage the affairs of this country, either as a President or Vice, then it is NOW. If we ever needed an economist to help in the socioeconomic reconstruction of our country, then it is NOW. In response to this, whereas the NPP is presenting a Presidential ticket involving a distinguished lawyer [H.E Nana Akufo-Addo] and a consummate economist of great international repute [H.E Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia] for election 2020, the alternative that we have in the NDC is a Presidential ticket involving a communications expert [H.E John Mahama] and an educationalist [Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemeng].

Clearly, it doesn’t take rocket science for one to know that the second option of a communicator and an educationist is not what we need at this very critical moment of our economic life. A challenged economy like ours [obviously, owing to Covid] certainly does not need a communications guru to salvage it. Equally, it does not need an educationist to salvage it, because education, itself, depends on the economy to survive. Of course, it does not also necessarily need a gender ticket.

In any case, political scientists and researchers have established that the two most critical expertise needed in the enterprise of governance is expertise in LAW and ECONOMY. A fine balance of the two is exactly what every country needs to chart on the path of progress and prosperity. It is thus one of the many reasons why the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Presidential ticket rather than the alternative is the best for Ghana in 2020, and I hope and trust that the Ghanaian electorates, conscious of this fact, will do the needful on December 7, for the love of country.  

Assalamu alaikum

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#ForGodAndCountry

2020 VOTER REGISTRATION: YOU CANNOT BE MORE UNPRINCIPLED AND INCONSISTENT THAN THE NDC

2020 VOTER REGISTRATION: YOU CANNOT BE MORE UNPRINCIPLED AND INCONSISTENT THAN THE NDC

Iddi Muhayu-Deen’s folder

In the matter of the ongoing voter registration exercise, it cannot be gainsaid that the NDC has yet again amply demonstrated their age-long inconsistency and lack of principles in many ways. The latest in such series is the party’s decision to go to court to challenge the Electoral Commission’s decision to register SHS students who have turned 18 and beyond in the ongoing voter registration.

Yes! You heard it right. The NDC is telling us that it has become an offense for the EC to provide an opportunity for our brothers and sisters in the Senior High Schools to register in order to entitle them to exercise their constitutional right to vote come December 7. I am sure you must be shocked by this turn of events regarding the NDC’s stance. But it is what it is.

Only a few weeks ago, this same NDC was in the Supreme Court arguing strongly that the EC was seeking to deny eligible Ghanaians their constitutional right to vote in the December 2020 elections following the removal of the old voters ID card from the voter registration requirements. They claimed the EC, by this decision, was going to disenfranchise many eligible Ghanaians from registering and therefore sought the court’s intervention.

Yet, the same NDC which claimed it was defending people’s constitutional right to register and vote, is today, back in court arguing that the court should intervene and stop the EC from registering eligible Ghanaian voters in our Senior High Schools. How incredulous! So I ask, is the NDC in support of the right of eligible Ghanaians to register and vote, or they are against it? There is no middle ground.

Or maybe, just maybe, the NDC is telling us that per their “micro and macro understanding of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana [apologies to John Dumelo]”, the right to vote as enshrined in Article 42 of the Constitution, does not extend to students in Senior High Schools regardless of their age. Interestingly, the NDC finds nothing wrong with the EC going to prisons to register prisoners. The gods must certainly be crazy indeed. Well, I just hope free SHS has nothing to do with this manifest absurdity of our NDC friends.

And please, do not be deceived by the NDC’s argument that the registration centres at the Senior High Schools have not been gazetted hence their opposition. First of all, the EC was not creating any new centres from the centres that were gazetted. The current legal regime allows the EC to use mobile registration vans and accompanying devises to register eligible voters and assign them to the closest polling station. The Commission has in fact been using this mobile registration vans across the country since the exercise began on 30th June.

So, what the EC proposed to do on Friday (10th July) and Saturday (11th July), was to move these mobile registration vans and the accompanying devices to the Senior High Schools to register the final year students who have turned 18 and beyond. This is because per the current executive instrument on Covid-19 restrictions, the students cannot leave campus and go to town queuing to register. Meanwhile, these eligible students have a constitutional right to register and vote, which right cannot be derogated under any circumstances.

Mind you, out of the about 700 Senior High Schools in the country, over 280 of them are already registration centres which were duly gazetted, hence will not be captured under this special arrangement. And this is what the NDC is kicking against? So, what at all is the alternative? The eligible students should be disenfranchised? Is this what the NDC wants? My dear SHS students, at least you now know those who care about you and those who do not, and I’m sure, you will be guided by that accordingly.

The decision is yours. Vote wisely on December 7 and be ruled, or be ruined forever.  

Assalamu alaikum

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#ForGodAndCountry

ELECTION 2020: A CALL TO NATIONAL DUTY

ELECTION 2020: A CALL TO NATIONAL DUTY

Fellow Ghanaians, as we approach election 2020, where we shall have yet another opportunity to decide the destiny of this country, it is important that those who have voice are heard speaking. It is important that those who have ears are seen listening.

It is important that those who have eyes are seen watching. It is important that those who have pen are seen writing. It is important that everybody who has certain strength is seen using his strength to help our fellow countrymen and women make an informed decision come December 7.

This is what it means to be citizens and not spectators. You and I have lived the John Mahama-led NDC regime and have experienced how bitter and devastating it was. It was, without doubt, a regime of collapsing economy; a regime of acute energy crisis; a regime of joblessness and hopelessness; a regime of unbridled corruption and scandals.

Today, the same people, led by the same man, John Mahama, who destroyed everything Ghanaian, are asking us to give them yet another chance to rule this country. I am not sure we will be fair to our very own conscience and to our Motherland if we grant them audience. The John Mahama of yesterday is the same John Mahama of today. His appointment of a femane Running Mate does not change the narrative about him.

In any case, she was part of the John Mahama government that gave us this raw deal. She, in fact, played a leading role in the many excesses that characterized the erstwhile NDC government particularly in the education sector. We cannot be hoodwinked into making a wrong choice on December 7. We must expose Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang for who she really is. And more importantly, we must expose the NDC and in particular, Mr. John Mahama, for who he really is.

It is for this reason that, now more than ever, I am going to be speaking very loudly through a means I christen, *IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN’s FOLDER*, and I encourage you to also get talking because silence CANNOT be an option for a true citizen at a material time like this. Speak and speak out loudly, else, you will be governed by incompetence. This is a call to national duty, and we owe it to our Motherland to rise to the occasion.

Assalamu alaikum

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#ForGodAndCountry

THE FULL STORY ON THE MENZGOLD SCAM AND THE BLAME GAME

By Iddi Muhayu-Deen

Whereas many Ghanaians and government alike are sympathizing with customers of Menzgold especially the unsuspecting ones most of whom are on the brink of losing their life-time investments and are calling on the relevant State actors to do the needful, the biggest opposition party in Ghana, the NDC, would rather see this as yet another opportunity to make political capital. In a very characteristic fashion, the NDC, led by their National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, would want Ghanaians to blame President Akufo-Addo and the NPP government for the predicaments of Menzgold and all its customers for some unfathomable reasons.

Sammy Gyamfi also accuses His Excellency President Akufo-Addo and the NPP government of complicity in this Menzgold saga and attempting to cover up their involvement through some state-sponsored actions. Ordinarily, I would ignore Sammy Gyamfi, because, it is clear that, his relevance in the NDC is measured based on the amount of vitriol and acidic propaganda he is able to spew at the person of President Akufo-Addo and the NPP, and so, he’s only doing his job. I am however unable to resist the temptation to respond to him and set the records straight particularly on his desperate attempt to politicise this otherwise sensitive issue.

SAMMY GYAMFI’S INCONSISTENCY

The same Sammy Gyamfi, who, recently, was all over the place, slamming the NPP government for seeking to collapse NAM1’s business (Menzgold), is today, making a gargantuan u’turn accusing government and President Akufo-Addo in particular for promoting the business of Menzgold. When you elect such a walking contradiction as your National Communications Officer, you certainly should not expect anything less. I am sure you’ve watched and listened to him on Asempa fm and elsewhere blowing both hot and cold on the same subject of Menzgold. 

THE POLITICS OF PICTURE AND ENDORSEMENT

Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC are claiming that because NAM1 has a picture with President Akufo-Addo, it is prima facie evidence of the president’s complicity and open endorsement of NAM1’s business operations. How pathetic!! So, public figures and officials can no longer take pictures with other persons, and if they did, it meant they endorsed the activities of those other persons? Is this what the NDC has been reduced to? Where would such sheer desperation and kindergarten politics take us to?

If, for being seen in a photo with NAM1, it meant President Akufo-Addo endorsed and promoted the works of NAM1, then former President Mahama also endorsed homosexuality, because, he is seen in many pictures and at close intervals with Andrew Solomon, who is widely described as the founder and president of the Association of Gays and Lesbians in the World. In fact, in the case of President Mahama and Andrew Solomon, their relationship goes beyond the many pictures they took, and as the former President himself once put it in disagreeing with his Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga, Andrew Solomon was his close friends with whom they did many things together, and indeed, when he was launching his maiden book, “My First Coup d’état” in the US, he, [President Mahama] made Andrew Solomon the Chairman for that auspicious occasion.

Also, going by Sammy Gyamfi and his NDC’s infantile logic, His Eminence the National Chief Imam as well as His Royal Highness the Asantehene, just like President Akufo-Addo, have also endorsed NAM1’s business, because he [NAM1] has photos with them. Equally, the Multimedia Group, Media-General, GBC, EIB Network and indeed all the media stations that run adverts for Menzgold have all endorsed NAM1’s modus operandi and are therefore his accomplices in this unfolding saga. That’s Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC for you.

THE NAKED LIES

Contrary to the NDC’s claim that Menzgold has over 2.8m customers with some GHc200m investment with the company, records have it that Menzgold actually has less than 10,000 customers with less than GHc100m worth of investment. It is also a palpable falsehood the NDC’s claim that NAM1 was a financier to the NPP’s 2016 campaign and indeed Sammy Gyamfi and his propaganda cohorts have till date not been able to adduce a scintilla of evidence to substantiate their claims.  

MENZGOLD OPERATIONS AND THE BLAME GAME

The NDC says we should blame the NPP government for allowing Menzgold to operate, and failing to take the necessary steps to protect the customers. Let us subject this claim to FACTS CHECK. First of all, it is a fact that Menzgold was licensed in 2013 when it started operation by which time the NDC was in government. Apart from the issuance of a red alert, the NDC government did absolutely nothing to clampdown on the operations of Menzgold even when it became clear that they were operating beyond the remit of the license they were granted by the Minerals Commission.

So, Menzgold had a safe haven to operate for 4 years during the Mahama administration. That’s the record of the NDC in stopping the Menzgold scam and protecting its customers. With such records, you would understand why almost all the major Ponzi Schemes witnessed in Ghana happened during the NDC reign including the infamous US Tilapia, DKM, R5, Bamask and Pyram among several others.

Contrasting this with the NPP’s commitment in relation to dealing with the Menzgold saga, the difference is overwhelmingly clear. To start with, immediately the NPP came into office, the Bank of Ghana, in July 2017, cautioned the general public and warned Menzbank to stop taking further deposits. In a smart move, the company changed its name to Menzgold and set up a subsidiary by name “Brew Marketing Limited” where clients were directed to go and purchase gold and deposit same with Menzgold for monthly dividend of 7 to 10%. Minerals Commission, after its investigation, wrote to Menzgold in September 2017, stating that Brew Marketing Limited had not been registered as a licence buying agent.   

Also, after a joint operation with the Bank of Ghana and the Minerals Commission in June 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) went hard on Menzgold describing their operation as one of capital market dealings, which it did not have licence thus contravening the Securities Industries Act, 2016 (Act 929) as well as the Specialized Deposit-Taking Act, 2016 (Act 930). Accordingly, Menzgold was ordered to stop operation in relation to taking new contracts. For the records, Menzgold was not ordered to stop paying dividends to existing customers, but was only asked to stick to what its license provided while maintaining its existing contractual obligations.

It is worthy of note that all these statutory bodies (EOCO, SEC, PMMC, Minerals Commission and the Bank of Ghana) and laws existed during the NDC administration when Menzgold operated for good 4 years. There was no conscious effort by officialdom to check the operations of the company and so, they were allowed to operate in a non-regulatory regime duping more and more unsuspecting customers with their “rob Peter and pay Paul” Ponzi Scheme.

WHY EOCO DIDN’T ORDER THE FREEZING OF NAM1’S ACCOUNTS AND SEIZURE OF HIS PROPERTIES

Sammy Gyamfi makes the point that EOCO should be faulted for failing to order the immediate freezing and seizure of NAM1’s accounts and properties when the EOCO Act, 2010 (Act 804) clothes it with such powers. To him and his NDC, so long as the law clothes a statutory body with certain powers, the body can exercise such powers in any manner it deems fit without recourse to due process. Sammy Gyamfi pretends to be unaware that the exercise of discretionary power is subject to the elaborate provisions of Article 23 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution which provisions were enunciated by the Supreme Court in a number of decided cases including Awuni v WAEC and Abu Ramadan v EC and Okudzeto Ablakwa(2) v AG(2).

Yet, Sammy Gyamfi, whom we are told is a lawyer, does not know this? God save the legal profession. The point should be made that EOCO has now been able to freeze NAM1’s accounts because it has now been established beyond equivocation that Menzgold was engaged in some fishy deals culminating in loss of depositors’ funds and the accompanying public protestations. Indeed, an Accra High Court recently dismissed Menzgold’s suit challenging SEC’s regulatory jurisdictions over its operations.

WHY DID EOCO GRANT BAIL TO NAM1 AND FAIL TO CONFISCATE HIS PASSPORT

EOCO’s invitation and subsequent arrest of NAM1 was as early as August 2018 following a complaint filed by the Bank of Ghana after the banter it had with NAM1, but at which time no prima facie case was established against him. He was therefore entitled to bail even without sureties. It is therefore not surprising that he was granted a self-recognisance bail. There was also no clarity in respect of which laws Menzgold had breached and which statutory body had exclusive jurisdiction over its operations.

Equally, Menzgold was at the time challenging the actions of SEC and the Bank of Ghana in court. In view of this, you would agree that there was no basis for EOCO to have descended heavily on NAM1 to the extent of seizing his passports and refusing to grant him bail. I bet you, if EOCO had acted in such capricious manner, the same Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC would have accused EOCO and by extension the Akufo-Addo government of abusing its powers against innocent businessmen.

GOVERNMENT AIDED NAM1’S ESCAPE  

Having established that NAM1 was deserving of bail based on the law and the circumstances of this case, which bail he was rightly granted by EOCO, why should government be blamed for the conduct of NAM1 in breaching his bail conditions and absconding? In any case, Sammy Gyamfi’s legendary incompetence would not let him know that the ports of Ghana are not the only means through which one can leave the Ghanaian territory. Incompetence would not let Sammy Gyamfi and his NDC know that people can leave this country through any of our many borders (approved or non-approved) without any trace.

CONCLUSION

It is abundantly clear from the foregoing that if we were to politicise this infamous Menzgold scam as the NDC is inviting us to do, then certainly their government [the erstwhile Mahama administration] is to blame, for, first of all, creating this mess and failing to apply the law to protect innocent customers. It is also abundantly clear that, just like the banking sector mess they left behind, this Akufo-Addo government has shown more than enough testicular commitment to dealing with the crisis at all costs including political cost so long as it is in the interest of the nation. In any case, we didn’t vote for a government to go taking popular decisions but decisions that would inure greatly to the benefit of the nation at large even if they appear unpopular today.

As for Sammi Gyamfi, the least said about him the better. It is obvious he would never change so long as you have some desperate politicians in the NDC urging him on. The young man, perhaps, doesn’t know he is being used to do some dirty works of these so called party kingpins while destroying his credibility, if he still has any. Well, let it be told Sammy Gyamfi and his NDC that he cannot fool all the people all the time. Ghanaians are not unintelligent.

Assalamu alaik

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#ForGodAndCountry

OPEN LETTER TO NDC’S SAMMY GYAMFI

Dear Sammy Gyamfi,

Respectfully, I have, as a political activist, been following keenly, and with considerable interest, your public exploits particularly media engagements since your election as the National Communications Officer of the largest opposition party in Ghana, the NDC. Even though, I wish, after this exercise, I could return a positive verdict on your performance so far, you haven’t, regrettably, given me reasons to do that. I was one of the persons who supported your bid upon conviction that you would do a much better job. But unfortunately, you haven’t given me any reason to award you with a pass mark. You have at best, been unimpressive.

And I’m sure after your interview with citi fm’s Selorm Adonoo on “Point Blank” on Wednesday, December 12, 2018, you can only agree with me. It was so difficult for you to sustain your claims that the Nana Addo-Bawumia government has woefully failed to honour their social contract with the Ghanaian electorates which you sought to make in your recent press conference to the extent that you had to accuse the host of doing the bidding of the NPP.

You wanted the host to only ask questions relating to the issues you raised in your statement and nothing more. How absurd! But nonetheless, he grants your wish. He then proceeds to confront you with concrete evidence challenging your claims particularly on projects under the Special Development Initiatives being undertaken by the government across the country which, he said, their regional reporters had confirmed. At this point, you became unenviably helpless and one could only sympathize with you.

Only when I thought your citi fm interview was extremely embarrassing, you appeared on Metro TV’s flagship programme, dubbed, Good Morning Ghana, the following day. I can’t even describe the spectacle. It was a monumental disaster and a not not not when you were subjected to FACTS CHECK by the venerable international award winning Abdul Malik Kweku Baako compelling you to make a number of concessions for your countless unpardonable gaffes. Even the host, Randy Abbey, couldn’t save you.

My brother, with this experience, I guess you’ve now seen your “smoothness level” and understand that you can’t speak so loosely and have your way when you appear on serious political shows. Of course, you would have your way if you were speaking on platforms provided by your party’s rented media houses. Obviously, this explains why you are so popular in the NDC, because, it is, perhaps, the only party that rewards “babies with sharp teeth” who can insult leaders of other political parties particularly presidential and vice presidential candidates. It is a party where ascension to political office depends on the sharpness of one’s teeth.

Finally, just before I let go of you, kindly vary your choice of words a little. The expression, “THIS IMPOTENT, NEPOTISTIC AND INEPT AKUFO-ADDO/BAWUMIA GOVERNMENT” which you always use, is becoming just too monotonous. Ghanaians are fed-up hearing you constantly repeat that expression. You virtually cannot construct a single sentence in a political conversation without making that expression. I am not sure that’s the only English you were thought in school. You are too predictable and that certainly, is not a mark of a good politician.

You also do not have to shout and denigrate elderly people to be able to make sense. You don’t have to verbally attack political opponents especially H.E. President Akufo-Addo and H.E. Vice President Mahamudu BAWUMIA before you can make sense. Take this brotherly advice from your friend and contemporary and you will go far. Don’t let the NDC as a body corporate regret sacrificing Fred Agbenyo for you. Enough of the cacophony! It is just too early for you to completely lose credibility in the political space. I will not be happy should that happen. I believe in young people and so, please, give me reasons to continue believing in young people like you and myself.

Thank you.               

Yours in service of country,

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

#ForGodAndCountry

Free to share till it gets to Sammy Gyamfi. He needs our help…

EXPOSING THE HIDDEN AGENDA BEHIND THE FAILED LAWSUIT CHALLENGING THE CREATION OF NEW REGIONS

By Iddi Muhayu-Deen

There is absolutely no denying the fact that this whole lawsuit challenging the creation of regions was targeted at stalling the creation of the proposed Oti Region, which has, undoubtedly, seen the strongest opposition in this whole conversation of regional reorganization underpinned in Article 5 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic. The said anti-Oti agenda, we also do know, is coming from people in the southern part of the Volta Region, almost all of whom are Ewes including their brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, and it is being spearheaded by their traditional and religious leaders, rather regrettably.

Surprisingly, these people and their leaders do not even hail from the Oti enclave and are therefore in no way affected by the creation of the Oti Region, neither have they called for it. But, they have, both in words and in deeds, openly shown demonstrable commitment to thwarting the effort to create the Oti Region. In case you haven’t followed these developments, let me refresh your memories. First, one Rev. S.S Agidi, a renowned opinion leader in the Ewe community and Moderator of the E.P Church was reported in the Ghanaian Times of January 25, 2018, to have openly declared his hatred for the creation of the proposed Oti Region describing the move as a recipe for chaos and tribal conflict.

Also, the Daily Graphic of Thursday, October 4, 2018, reported on the back page that the chiefs and people of the Asogli State including their warlord, Togbe Adzi Lakle Howusu XII, have vowed to resist any attempt to exclude Ewes from the southern part of the Volta Region from participating in the referendum on the creation of the Oti region. Again, the Goviafe chief, in addressing some anti-Oti protesters at the Asogli traditional palace on 8th August, 2018, stoked ethnic sentiments by suggesting that Ashantis were behind the Oti agenda and that, they [the Ashantis] should leave the Volta region and rather go and split their home region if they were interested in splitting regions.

Mention can also be made of a press release by the Anlo traditional council at the close of a meeting held at Ave, on October 13, 2018, where they posited that a potential conflict was imminent if government went ahead with the move to create the Oti Region. The latest in the series of opposition was what we saw recently from no less a person than the Ahomefia of the Asogli State and President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede, who, aside stoking tribal sentiments, also purported to raise the question of unconstitutionality regarding the processes that had been followed so far.

To me, it is unfathomable that chiefs and people in the southern part of the volta region would think that the carving out of the Oti Region from the Volta Region would affect their tradition authority and reduce the influence of their chiefs. Need I remind them that the creation of new regions or carving out of new regions from existing ones does not affect traditional boundaries? That is why, for instance, we have some chiefs in Volta north and in other regions paying allegiance to the Asantehene and so on. The creation of regions is thus, purely for administrative purposes and has nothing to do with traditional boundaries.

In any case, Togbe Afede and his people know very well that NO SINGLE CHIEF in the entire Oti enclave owes allegiance or has ever owed allegiance to any Ewe chief. So what is their problem? We, the people of Oti, in the exercise of our constitutional rights, as enshrined in Article 5 of the Constitution, called for the creation of the Oti region, thereby triggering the necessary constitutional processes and thankfully, the Justice Brobbey-led commission of inquiry, after their investigations, agreed with us in pursuance to Article 5(4) of the Constitution.

But of course, Togbe Afede and the other chiefs and people in the southern part of the volta region who are in this anti-Oti agenda, would have none of that. So, when they realised they were losing the argument, they decided to go to the Supreme Court, through their Ewe surrogates, in a desperate attempt to curtail the process under the guise of seeking constitutional interpretation. It is certainly the height of absurdity and gross incompetence for them to think that the Supreme Court has the power to twist or alter the very express provisions of Article 5 of the Constitution.

Unfortunately for them, in the Supreme Court, when you go talking tribalism, you will get a 7-0 verdict. When you go talking emotions, you will get a 7-0 verdict. When you go talking religious fanatism or traditional convenience, you will certainly receive a 7-0 verdict and that was exactly what happened to them. Their suit was not only void ab-initio but also, was so vexatious and pregnant with legal and constitutional absurdities. When you go to court with such stuffs, you will certainly be embarrassed. I commend the respected justices of the Supreme Court for doing the needful and vindicating our constitutional jurisprudence.

Let the naysayers be told that Oti Region is a MUST and SHALL come to pass to the glory of God (Insha Allah).

Assalamu aliak

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#AdvocateForOtiRegion

#ForGodAndCountry