• How plot of ex-ministers’ attack on BNI was hatched

The Catalyst can authoritatively state that the hooliganism displayed by the association of New Patriotic Party (NPP) former ministers on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) was a premeditated act. We can also reveal that it was not for nothing that Mr Mpiani failed to turn up at the BNI on Monday as scheduled and rather chose at his convenience to go there on Tuesday. This paper has found out that it was all a plot thoroughly hatched and executed to perfection.

Known in some NPP circles as the ‘Tuesday Club,’ impeccable information available to The Catalyst indicates that the group calling itself the association of former ministers, was put together by the former Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani for the sole purpose of creating political tension in the country as soon as the process of the inevitable probe of the group’s members begins.

The Catalyst investigation has also revealed that the reason why Mr Mpiani failed to honour the BNI invitation on Monday June 1, as agreed, was because he wanted to first attend the meeting of his ‘Tuesday Club’ the following day to strategise for any eventualities that might occur whilst at the BNI.

The name ‘Tuesday Club’ derives from the fact that the group’s meeting day is Tuesday, this paper can disclose.

Our investigation has found out that the ‘Tuesday Club’ whose membership is made up principally of one faction of the fierce power struggle within the NPP, meets every Tuesday in Mr Mpiani’s residence in Accra to discuss mainly issues pertaining to the possible prosecution of some members and also fashion out strategies to unleash a massive onslaught on the NDC government by creating tension in the country, when that happens.

This paper’s sources at the BNI said when Mr Mpiani was called at 12: 00 pm on Monday 1st June to find out if he was coming, he responded in the affirmative saying he was only an hour away from Accra on his way back from Kumasi. Final preparations were thus made awaiting his arrival by 1: 00 pm on that day but he failed to turn up.

According to our sources, the former Chief of Staff was later reached on his mobile phone by the BNI officials around 5: 30pm to ascertain why he was not showing up after the assurance they got from him hours earlier. To their surprise, the former Chief of Staff vehemently denied giving any indication earlier that he was an hour away from Accra but rather, an hour away from Kumasi, which made it impossible for him to come, this paper has learnt.

It has come to light that the former Chief of Staff was only dilly-dallying with the BNI authorities. He had no intention of honouring the BNI invitation on Monday even though he promised to. Our information is that he wanted to attend the ‘Tuesday Club’ meeting in his house first the next day, where a definite decision was going to be taken by the ‘Tuesday Club’ before proceeding to the BNI the same day.

Mr Mpiani was initially expected at the BNI on Thursday 28th May 2009 at 1: OO pm after officials managed to make contact with him by cell phone on Tuesday 26th May 2009, following a long search. He however pleaded profusely for more time until Monday June 1, 2009 to appear but failed to honour his word because he had an agenda. He claimed he needed more time to finish with some array of funeral rites in Kumasi.

As evidence shows, the Mpiani-led ‘Tuesday Club’ carried through to the letter its dastardly plot on Tuesday when members, who stormed the BNI headquarters in Accra whilst their leader was there, raised hell and swore to rain brimstone and fire on the country if their leader was not released ‘immediately’ by the BNI.

Early at dawn on Tuesday, members of the ‘Tuesday Club’ started arriving in Mr Mpiani’s residence in Accra for the strategic meeting on what to do on the day, The Catalyst has learnt. The meeting, which the paper was told, took off very early that morning discussed a wide range of issues bothering on creating tension in the country and how exactly to go about it should Mr Mpiani be held at the BNI beyond 6 : 00 pm.

The meeting ended at around 10: 00 am and Mr Mpiani set off to the BNI at his own time, arriving at about 11: 00 am. The former NPP ministers remained back at the residence of Mr Mpiani, sitting on tenterhooks and waiting for the ‘right signals’ in order to strike.

Mr Mpiani arrived at the BNI in the company of 3 of his lawyers at about 11am on Tuesday. His intermittent questioning began at about 2: 00 pm, according to our checks at the BNI, because the BNI officials had other business to attend to.

The ‘Tuesday Club’ zoomed into action at about 6: 00 pm and carried on until 11: 00 pm when Mr Mpiani and his 3 lawyers finally emerged from the BNI offices. Some members of the group whose membership include the likes of Kwabena Agyepong, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, Asamoah Boateng, Frank Agyekum, Felix Owusu Agyepong and the rest of them, banged on the gates of the BNI like common hooligans whilst threatening to plunge the country into war if their strongman was not released immediately amidst stupendous lies meant to incite their supporters to go on rampage nationwide to kill, break limbs and destroy property.

They have also questioned the constitutional mandate of the BNI regarding investigations of former government ministers. This criticism came as a shock to the rest of Ghanaians since under the Kufuor-led NPP government when members of the ‘Tuesday Club’ were ministers, former President Rawlings and several ex-ministers of the NDC government were taken through a similar investigative process at the BNI.

Meanwhile this paper can state that some of the former ministers in the erstwhile NPP government who have vowed never to join the ‘Tuesday Club’ because they belong to the other side of the power struggle in the opposition party, said they were gravely embarrassed by the shameful act of their colleagues.

Speaking to The Catalyst on condition of anonymity, they said they were amazed at the level of lawlessness exhibited publicly by their colleagues.

Describing the action of the Mpiani-led ‘Tuesday Club’ as undermining the rule of law and the integrity of the BNI, they are calling on the National Executive Committee of the NPP to hold the recalcitrant ex-ministers in check before they cause more embarrassment and disaffection for the party that is still reeling in the pain of its defeat in the 2008 elections. According to them, if not, the NPP’s chances of coming back to power are under threat from the unruly behaviour of the ‘Tuesday Club’.

A Deputy Minister for Information, Mr James Agyenim Boateng has described the conduct of the ‘Tuesday Club’ as irresponsible.