Intelligence information available to the New Statesman indicates that the ruling National Democratic Congress is in the process of facilitating the arrival into the country of a woman from the United Kingdom to give “evidence” to in support of the party' false allegations that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, is a cocaine user.
This is part of a concerted plot by the NDC to fulfil its promise of engaging primarily in the politics of assessing the characters of presidential candidates as opposed to focusing on issues that affect Ghanaians in the run-up to the 2012 elections.
With the hierarchy of the NDC fully admitting that their “Better Ghana Agenda” cannot win them the 2012 general elections, a decision has been made to engage in a brutal character assassination of the NPP flagbearer. This, members of the NDC believe, is the only way to win the 2012 election.
According to sources close to the paper, the woman, whose name is yet to be revealed, has been paid a whopping £200,000 to come into the country to make claims that she had been abusing a wide range of drugs with the NPP flagbearer during his years spent living in the UK.
A tall list of coached witnesses, who are known junkies, from the UK is also to be flown into the country to give “credence” to the NDC “star witness’s” testimony.
Computer graphics experts have also been employed by the NDC to generate “fake pictures” of Nana Akufo-Addo engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke and sniffing cocaine to buttress the claims of this woman.
Since 1995, the NDC has been involved in waging a war of alleged drug use by the NPP flagbearer even though the party has still not been able to raise any shred of evidence against him.
Perhaps Fifi Kwetey gives the reason why the NDC is hell-bent on destroying Nana Addo. NDC insiders, according to Fifi Kwetey, view the “former Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo as the most formidable potential opponent in the general election ....... well-funded, popular, charismatic, and has great appeal to younger voters.”
Recent information released by international whistle-blowing organisation, Wikileaks, has been pounced on by NDC propagandists as proof of their allegations against Nana Addo.
However, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor-in-Chief of The Insight newspaper and Dr Kwesi Aning, Head of Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre, who were alleged to have stated their knowledge of drug use by Nana Addo, have stated their non-remembrance of the issue and denial of their statements respectively as contained in the leaked US embassy cables.
As such to find other ways to impugn the credibility of the NPP flagbearer, the NDC has thus embarked on this path of flying down supposed witnesses.
This is not the first time the NDC has planned to use false witnesses in their attempt to destroy Nana Akufo-Addo, something they have tried since 1995.
Earlier this year, counsel for Nana Addo, just as they did in 2008, sought to put an end to the false allegations of Nana Addo’s arrest for drug trafficking at the John F Kennedy Airport in the United States peddled by the NDC.
The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute revealed in November 2010 that the NPP for good reasons did not go to court to cure the NDC’s allegations of drug use by Nana Addo. According to him, the party had gathered intelligence suggesting that elements within the NDC had lined up a tall list of coached witnesses who would falsely testify to have been sniffing cocaine with Nana Addo.
“The intelligence that came was that they had lined up people who were willing to come to court to say that they even smoked cocaine with him,” he revealed.
He said based on this intelligence report and the need to concentrate on bread and butter issues ahead of the 2008 elections the campaign team decided to trust the conscience of Ghanaians not to believe this cooked-up cocaine story by the NDC.
“A lot of things have been said about people. But you think that Ghanaians will not believe that such a man who has devoted 35 years of his life giving exemplary leadership to this country would be reduced to a common cocaine addict,” he said.
He was speaking on Joy FM's Newsfile on the denial of cocaine addiction by Nana Akufo-Addo. The NPP flagbearer described allegations that he sniffs cocaine as sheer nonsense and challenged the accusers to adduce evidence or shut up.