Former chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles and Assets Committee (CVAC), who gained notoriety in the media as a car- snatcher at the Tema Port, has granted The Herald a “no holes barred interview,” justifying reasons why carries a gun on himself. He said it is because of the mafias in operation at the nation’s busiest seaport, their criminal activities, and the death threats on him.

“I have always carried a gun, I will tell you reasons why, even today, I can go and show you my gun. I have never gone out without a gun,” Carl Wilson told The Herald’s Gifty Arthur, as he prepares to engage the celebrated TV broadcaster, Gideon Aryeequaye, in who becomes the ruling NDC’s Parliamentary candidate for the Weija Constituency in Accra.

In his first major interview, he disclosed that from the very first time that he entered into the Tema Port, he was learnt the sad story of two hardworking and innocent employees there who had insisted on the right things be done at the port but were mysteriously killed to enable the mafias in operation to continue their unpatriotic deeds against the nation.

“One was burnt alive and the second person had his neck twisted. Today, there are statistics, nobody speaks about them. But they were doing something good for this country. People who stood for the right things, they would kill you, my sister. I have children, I have a wife, I have a family”.

“So, I won’t allow myself to become statistics so they know; I made it clear to them that this is what I am going to do. I am going to stand and clean up my country; if you belong to the backside, I will step on your toe and I will not only step on it, I will crash it so if you are planning to attack me, come well,” he said, adding:

“I won’t make myself vulnerable to you the bad guy to come and kill me so that I become a statistics, no, am serving this country, so I have to protect myself. And they did try, trust me, and if I were not to be carrying a gun, I don’t think I will be alive talking to you”, he revealed.

The one-time most powerful National Security operative at Ghana’s main port, who was always in the news, sometimes for the wrong reasons and most times for political expediency, said that working at the Tema Port demands a lot of courage and circumspection, and so he did not in any way compromised on his safety, and has not done so till date.

While serving at the port, he insisted that people did the right thing, but there were some mafias within who always resisted every genuine movement towards eradicating unlawful activities which were being perpetuated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Carl, who was famously known as Rambo in Tema, said: “You have no idea the sort of mafia tactics that are used at the port, you don’t have the slightest idea. I don’t think people trying to do what I did stand in the way of people, so that Ghana would rake in the necessary revenue we need to develop our country”.

Touching on speculation that he is not a Ghanaian, Carl Wilson who has started his campaign to represent the largest constituency in the country, Weija, said that both his father and mother are all Ghanaians.

He said his mother, Elizabeth Lamptey, affectionately called Maa Lizzy, trades at Kaneshie Market where she is the queen mother of the Beef Sellers Association. He asked anybody who doubts his nationality, to go and find out from her.

His father, Mr. Peter L Wilson, he disclosed was once Personnel Manager of the then AGIP, now GOIL and hails from the Volta Region. Although Carl admits that he has stayed in Togo for some time, he said he later traveled abroad for his education and greener pastures.

After working as French translator for the Canadian government in Toronto, Canada, Mr. Wilson said because of the interest he had about Ghanaian politics, he enrolled at the York University where he obtained degrees in Political Science, English and French. He is a qualified technical and professional writer and certified bilingual linguist.

Even though he stayed abroad for a very long time, he said that he always been communicated with the party until his return in 2006.

He has since been with the party and played a significant role during the 2008 elections, when he served as IT specialist for the party, at General Secretary Asiedu Nketia’s office at the Kokomlemle headquarters of the party.

During the 2008 parliamentary primaries of the party, he said he had wanted to contest but the party said it preferred someone who was more resourceful and well-known in the constituency, and so he paved the way for the then candidate Sharif Duodo, who lost narrowly under very bizarre circumstances.

The 47-year-old who claimed to be the most formidable of all the eight candidates vying for the slot, said that there is no better time for him than now, as he is the only candidate who can unseat the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, adding that he is the most popular and credible candidate with the best programme for the Weija Constituency.

If given the chance to represent the people at the constituency at Parliament, he will initiate policies that would make the constituency, a semi-government within the central government, Carl said.

Giving his impression about his closest contender, Mr. Gideon Aryeequaye, in the race, Mr. Carl Wilson said that the ace- broadcaster is no competitor at all, since he is just being pushed by somebody at the Castle.

“Gideon is not popular than Carl Wilson, and I don’t fear him. “People know Carl Wilson, to be a fighter and not somebody who says that people said that I should contest. The constituency needs someone who knows the job, not someone who wants to come and learn on the job”, he boasted, adding: “This is what Ayorkor did and there has not been any development in the area”.

He described Mr. Aryeequaye as someone who is just contesting to enrich his CV. “Gideon is an ‘I also run man,’ not a politician”, Carl said.