IS ADDO KUFUOR A LIAR?

There is no doubt that the race for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearership contest is getting hotter and as it gets hotter, some of the aspirants are fumbling and ridiculing themselves badly.

One of the aspirants who is fumbling is the brother of the President, Dr. Philip Kwame Addo Kufuor, the former Defence Minister and a Member of Parliament for Manshyia, in the Ashanti Region.

Over the years, the former Defence Minister, Dr. Philip Kwame Addo Kufuor has been lying to the people of Ghana that there have been coup attempts but because of his competence and efficiency in handling the military, all those announced coup attempts have been foiled.

But just last week, Dr. Addo Kufuor in one of his campaign messages, said due to his efficiency and competence as the then Defence Minister, there has not being a single coup attempt in the country since the NPP assumed office seven years ago.

“The Ghana Palaver” is surprised at this statement coming from Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor because if it is true, then this newspaper believe strongly that the Minister of Defence, has lied to the nation all this while and therefore unfit to lead the NPP and the nation.

Our reason for declaring Dr Addo Kufuor unfit to lead the NPP and the nation is that at Offinso, the Minister of Defence misinformed the President Kufuor into believing that the former President, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings was preparing to over throw the government of the NPP, hence President Kufuor’s announcement of a coup attempt.

In November 2004, Dr. Addo Kufuor again misled the Government to announce that the Military had foiled a coup d’etat attempt.

Again in June 2005, with intelligence report from the office of the former Defence Minister, the Government announced that a clearing agent, a telephone bill distributor, an artist, a student, a butcher and a welder have all been arrested for attempting to overthrow the government.

“The Vanguard” a newspaper closely associated with the National Security also published on its front page that a certain Mallam called “Moro” had been hired by the NDC and housed at Haatso, a suburb of Accra, to perform rituals and give fortification for a coup, masterminded by the former President Jerry John Rawlings. “The Vanguard” again published that the former President Jerry John Rawlings had travelled to Congo Brazzaville in a French military aircraft to procure weapons to overthrow the government of President Kufuor, the senior brother of the former Defence Minister.

Based on intelligence report from the office of Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Colonel Gbevlo-Lartey, ex-Commanding Officer of the 64 Infantry Unit was arrested in connection with an alleged coup attempt.

The intelligence network of the former Minister of Defence did not only operate locally. They also went international and placed an advertisement in a Liberian newspaper, “The Liberian Analyst”.

The source of the advert was later traced to the National Security outfit which claimed that Ghanaian opposition leaders wanted to recruit Liberian mercenaries to overthrow the government of Ghana.

The Military Intelligence under the former Minister of Defence, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor also arrested Nicholas Owuobah, Seth Badoo and Afotey Otoo alias Everlasting, all ex-64 Battalion boys, for attempting a coup d’etat.

The Special Assistant to His Excellency President Rawlings, Mr. Victor Smith and Flt. Lt. Tackle NDC Deputy Greater Accra Regional Chairman were invited for questioning in connection with that alleged coup attempt.

The question is, were all the above announcements of coup d’etat attempts lies from the Ministry of Defence, or was Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor lying about his competence and efficiency as a former Defence Minister so he can get the nod from NPP delegates at the December congress of his party?

If all the above announcements of coup d’etat attempts were lies, why didn’t the Minister of Defence, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor refute them as they kept coming up? His silence meant that that he enjoyed the lies that were being put out by the government and their praise singing newspapers thinking that the coup stories would boost his competence and efficiency, little did he know that he would be coming face to face with his own lies one day.

Today, he wants to lead the NPP and become the President of Ghana but the lies he had told in the past are coming back to haunt him and it could be his “waterloo”.

Dr. Philip Kwame Addo Kufuor must come out now and tell Ghanaians whether he was lying to put the ‘fear of God’ into Ghanaians so they would believe he was doing a good job.

We demand an answer now!