General News of Thursday, 31 January 2013

Source: The Informer

Kufuor Faction Urges Gabby To Honour His Words

By Quitting Politics
-To Give NPP Peace Of Mind

A source close to ex-President John Kufuor’s splinter group in the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has in a chat with an NPP activist in the Ashanti Region, revealed, that they (members of the Kufuor-bloc) are hoping that Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko will follow his promise to quit politics this year, as he indicated in August last year.

The source added that “most of the Public Relations (PR) problems that the NPP had encountered, were due to the recklessness of Gabby; and his retirement from politics, will help the party a lot”.
“Irrespective of the outcome of the 2012 elections, Gabby must back his words with action and quit politics as promised, so as to give the party a peace of mind”, the Kufuor man is reported to have stated, according to this paper’s source.
“Just imagine the text message Gabby sent to the host of Newsfile programme, Samson Lardi Ayenini last Saturday, in which he sort to suggest that the NPP boycott of the Parliamentary Vetting is not logical, but political mean to deny President Mahama the political comfort, and you think he should not be urged to quit politics to save the party from further embarrassment”, the ex-President John Kufuor’s Ashanti caucus member is on record to have said.
Below is a story culled from Myjoyonline on August 27, 2011, 13:23 GMT capturing Gabby’s promise to quit politics after December 31, 2012

I'll quit politics after December 31, 2012 - Gabby
Executive Director of the Daquah Institute, Gabby Asare Okyere-Darko has decided to quit politics soon to concentrate on more important things.

The decision to quit, according to him, was taken about a year ago but recent happenings have reinforced it.

One of such issues he said is the ugly incident that took place over the weekend between him and the deputy minister for science and technology, Dr. Omani Boamah on Multi TV and Joy FM’s newsfile when he was quoted to have insulted Omani Boamah.

During an Interview on BADWAM on Adom Channel on Multi TV, Gaby said politics in Ghana was becoming frustrating for him and therefore his decision to quit.

"One professor or Doctor, I’m not quite sure, wrote in the papers yesterday (Monday 26th September 2011) advising Nana Addo to take me off his campaign team because I insulted Dr. Omani Boamah on Newsfile over the weekend. I was not so pleased with his comments because I’m not even an official member of Nana Addo’s campaign team. These and several comments are why I want to quit as soon as possible," he stated.

Gabby said he has concentrated the last 10 years of his life on politics and that he now thinks it is time for him to concentrate on his law profession and building his family.

"At the moment, my focus more is to help with good policies to develop this nation".

He also wants to quit as an executive member of the Danquah Institute, but will still be in the background to contribute to the growth of the nation.

When asked whether he was quitting politics because of the fear that Nana Addo was going to lose the elections next year, Gabby’s answer was a big NO.

"I’m not in politics because I want a position, otherwise I would have quitted a long time ago. I have something to do and I’m focusing on that, I can support from the background if I’m called upon."

No matter what the outcome of the 2012 elections will be, according to Gabby, he will quit politics effective 31st December 2012