The alleged poisoning of the outgoing Member of Parliament for the Asante Akim North Constituency, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, is symptomatic of the vindictiveness and persecution that characterised the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration, Kwadwo Twum Boafo, a leading member of the National Democratic Congress, has said.
Responding to the startling revelation by Andy Appiah-Kubi on Onua TV, Twum Boafo was aghast by the situation, questioning when and how such practices became a feature of Ghanaian politics.
He averred that politics within the Ghanaian context has always been defined by the exchange of opinions and that this new phenomenon of people being attacked and persecuted for voicing their opinions should not be encouraged.
“People doubted when it was reported that he (Appiah-Kubi) had been poisoned. He was on his hospital bed when some persons attempted to force him into an ambulance and bring him to Accra. His doctors and wife were the ones who prevented it from happening.
“He was poisoned because he led the MPs to advocate for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta. They could not make him lose at the primaries, so they planted an independent candidate and resourced him to unseat him in the elections,” he said.
The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Free Zones Authority opened up about his relationship with Andy Appiah-Kubi, describing him as an ‘honest and frank’ person who does not shy away from making known his reservations about an issue.
Twum Boafo also divulged details of a conversation he had with Andy Appiah-Kubi when he (Appiah-Kubi) informed him of his decision to transition from civil service to full-time politics.
“I have known Appiah-Kubi for a long time and I find him to be honest and straightforward. The day he exited the Ministry of Trade to venture into full-time politics, he told me, and we had a conversation about it. I told him that Akufo-Addo will collapse the NPP,” he said.
Andy Appiah-Kubi recently revealed on JoyNews that he was poisoned for leading the brigade of some NPP MPs to have Ken Ofori-Atta removed from office as Minister of Finance.
Without mincing words, he described the circumstances that led to this poisoning claim, as well as some of the attempts to remove him from the hospital he was at to Accra, to which his wife refused.
“Let me not be hypocritical. My own government had pursued me in diverse ways after our advocacy, and that is a fact. And, let me put it on record today that even my life, at some point, was in danger and I have suffered some ailment through the period, got treated, was fortunate, and I thank God that I’m still alive.
“Some people talk about it in the press, somehow exaggerated, but I suffered pain, I got treated over time, and I got healed by a miracle of God. So, I have a history and I’m very careful now. I got careless just over a short period of time, but it won’t happen again because I’m more careful now. But I also thank the American institutions for providing me with some level of security support,” he stated.
EK/AE
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