Veep Shot Down

Though Vice President John Mahama is reported to have denied claims that he wants to become the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2012 elections, his party members insist his hands are too ‘soiled’ for the presidency. Besides recent reports that Mr. Mahama was on a secret payroll of Francis Poku, National Security Minister under the New Patriotic Party (NPP)-led Government, he has also been accused of being a disloyal and opportunistic NDC member whose only motivation of becoming a running mate to President Atta Mills was to succeed as a president on a silver platter. SaCut Amenga-Etego, General Secretary for Youth For Leadership (YFL), a youth group within the NDC, in an open letter to the Vice President, urged him to drop the purported presidential ambition and accused him of having agreed to become a running mate only when he realized that Atta Mills had problems with his health and the party put a plan ‘B’ in place which would have allowed for whoever was chosen as running mate to take the mantle in the event the unexpected happened. Amenga-Etego said John Mahama was also being dishonest by his refusal to clear the air over reports that Jerry Rawlings did not want him to partner Atta Mills for the 2008 elections. He said the Vice President had originally decided to quit politics to further his academic pursuits outside Ghana and no amount of pleading and convincing, even from Jerry Rawlings, could get him to change his mind. The NDC activist said there was a time Jerry Rawlings drove to the home of John Mahama over the matter but the latter refused to meet with him and when he later agreed to postpone his academic ambition and opt for the Vice Presidency, he decided not to discuss it with the former first couple. The open letter also explained further why the Rawlingses eventually opted for Betty Mould-Iddrisu for the running mate slot: “There was a whole lot of hoo-ha in this country when the founder and his wife publicly declared their support for Betty Mould-Iddrissu as running mate to Prof. Mills in 2008. Some people quickly concluded that they were doing it to oppose your bid for the same slot. But did you inform the Rawlingses of your bid? I double doubt that! So did you and your apologists expect founder Jerry Rawlings and his wife to support a bid they were unaware of? And is that why you connived with Victor Smith, then aide to former President Rawlings and now Ghana’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic, to show ‘obscene loyalty’ to the founder? Or you think we don’t know you’re an integral part of the reason for the sudden TXT message dismissal of Victor Smith by President Rawlings? “Let them who are unaware be informed that Victor Smith had knowledge of when and where you were scheduled to be out-doored as running mate to Prof. Mills but it is public knowledge that founder Jerry Rawlings arrived at that event very late and missed the entire show all because of the scheming of you and your cohort, Victor Smith and Ato Ahwoi to keep him out of the event. The founder was misinformed with regard to the time by Victor Smith. “But why would Victor Smith go in cahoots with you and others to deceive Founder Jerry Rawlings while working as his personal aide? Was there a hidden agenda known only to Victor Smith and his collaborators which includes you? Why did you not want the founder present at your out-dooring as running mate? C ould it be because the founder would have stood by his principles and attempted to expose all the subterfuge that had culminated in that event on that day? Did Victor Smith scheme with you to avoid this exposé? And if he did, did he not deserve in hundredfold the txt message dismissal he received soon afterwards? In my books, he deserved it doubly as much as your dishonest and disingenuous self deserved exposure.” Amenga-Etego noted, “You were the real ‘plan B’ that Ato Ahwoi put in place for the uncertainty with the ailing Prof. Mills. “Why, Ato Ahwoi had full access to the supposedly ‘horrible and unpromising health file’ of the candidate Mills. And he showed it to you who suddenly and vainly saw greater prospects of becoming a future president on a silver platter. Or didn’t he? I’m sure you’re disappointed that the President is still alive and kicking today. “But knowing that founder Jerry Rawlings will expose your opportunism, you schemed with the obscenely loyal Victor Smith to avoid it. It is obvious and can be substantiated easily through the entire unraveling conspiracy—and you cannot even deny it. So you want to become President of Ghana on the blind side of founder Jerry Rawlings—and a scheming Victor Smith is on hand to facilitate that agenda. Isn’t it, sir? Is it any wonder that Victor Smith immediately joined your campaign team and was immediately put in charge of protocol at the presidency soon after the NDC won the election 2008 and later made Ambassador to Czech Republic? Would you expect any less for his loyalty to that grand scheme orchestrated by you and your cohort? Or you think it is difficult to figure out why one of your most hyped visits abroad in recent times is the one to the Czech Republic supposedly to solicit engineering partnerships with the Czechs? Of course, Ambassador Smith still has a role to play in making that grand scheme of you becoming a future President on a silver platter come to fruition—though from a safe distance.”