Baba Kamara diverted Dangote campaign donation - Former NDC MP

Former National Security Advisor to former President John Mahama, Mr Baba Kamara, diverted for himself huge amounts of money donated to Mr Mahama by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote for campaign purposes, former Salaga MP Ibrahim Dey has been heard alleging in a leaked phone conversation with a fellow NDC member in the Salaga constituency.

“I learnt Dangote gave money to be brought to the president for the campaign, he (Kamara) took all,” Mr Dey is heard saying to his interlocutor on the tape.
According to him, Mr Kamara diverted some $5million given to him by the president as well.
The voice is also heard accusing Mr Kamara of doing certain shady deals while in office, for which he must be investigated and jailed.
“I learnt he (Kamara) was saying that his office cannot be audited. …I learnt he (Kamara) and Samson-Oje (immediate past Chief of Defence Staff) did a lot of deals, so, [Dominic] Nitiwul (Defence Minister) will go through them. And Nitiwul is not a pushover. I say Nitiwul will go after him. Seriously!… he said in the recording.
“…He must go to prison, seriously. …Even five years is too small, they should lock him up for 20 years, seriously, so that the next four elections, before he comes out, he is old. He can even die and get rotten in prison,” an obviously angry Dey is heard saying.
“…What is painful is that, according to [Usman], one day John [Mahama] came to him in London and John was rather telling him that Baba Kamara is a criminal. I said: ‘So you knew the guy was like that yet he was with you, and you never did anything about it. …The more you think about it the more you get mad.”

“And he was telling me when I was appointed to become the Minister of Local Government, Baba Kamara refused it, it was an argument. … And John you allowed him when you are the president? You appoint somebody and how can somebody, a sheer advisor, refuse it. As a president, you should stand your grounds.”
Several attempts by ClassFMonline.com to reach Mr Dey for comments on the leaked tape proved futile.
Meanwhile, the Salaga South constituency of the NDC has petitioned the Prof Kwesi Botchwey-led committee that is probing the defeat of the party, to question Mr Kamara, who they accuse of “deliberately and maliciously orchestrating” and “masterminding” the NDC’s defeat in the constituency.

PETITION BY SALAGA NDC ON WHY THE PARTY LOST THE SALAGA SOUTH SEAT

We the underlisted concerned members of the Salaga South constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), wish to bring to the notice of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, the Kwesi-Botchwey fact-finding committee, the Council of Elders, and all the other organs and stakeholders of the party, the causes of our unexpected defeat in the 2016 parliamentary election at the constituency.
First of all, we need to make it clear that the defeat of the party in the constituency in last year’s elections was deliberately and maliciously orchestrated by the former National Security Adviser, Alhaji Baba Kamara and his paid agents at the constituency.
The simple reason he gave for masterminding the defeat of the parliamentary candidate in the Salaga South constituency in his own words is to show the then MP and parliamentary candidate Alhaji Ibrahim Dey ‘where power lies’.
The NDC has since the inception of democratic rule in 1992 enjoyed tremendous support from the Salaga South (formerly Salaga) constituency, winning the parliamentary seat on four out of the seven elections so far.
But on almost all the seven elections since 1992, the NDC has been able to win the presidential elections by big margins, a clear indication that with the right strategy the party should be able to always win the parliamentary seat too.
It must be made clear and unequivocal that while he made little or no contribution to the party’s sustenance and victories in the constituency, Baba Kamara has on almost all the three occasions single-handedly masterminded the party’s parliamentary elections defeat especially in the years 2000 and 2016.
The simple reason is to satisfy his ego and punish those candidates or MPs he thinks are working hard for the people or showing some signs of independence and resistance to the corrupt systems he wants to put in place at the constituency.
Again, since 1992, he has sought to create and institute the twin British-style of Indirect Rule and ‘divide and rule tactics’ in the Salaga South constituency, using intimidation, financial inducement, character assassination and other negative Machiavellian political strategies. He practises Indirect Rule in the sense that he hardly comes out to campaign or even do anything to help the party or the people of the constituency in their developmental agenda. In fact one even hardly sees him in any gatherings or any meetings in the constituency and actually many party people even hardly know him in person.
But he always finds a way of using some few selected ‘shadowy’ but selfish individuals in the constituency to carry out his negative, selfish and destructive activities against the party, the constituency and the people in genera
While Larry Gbevlo Lartey and General Nunoo-Mensah used their offices as National Security Coordinator and Adviser respectively to help build schools and provide water (boreholes) and other amenities for their people and Ghanaians in general, Baba Kamara has used his position as national security adviser to destroy others for his selfish and egoistic interests. It must be noted that, since 1992, Baba Kamara has never built or initiated or even lobbied for one single project for the constituency. He will not also allow people who would want to help to have peace of mind. He always undermines them either by knocking their heads with others or furtively working against them using his paid agents at the constituency.
Again, as part of the divide-and-rule tactics at the constituency, he has always knocked the heads of the MPs and the DCEs together since 1992. For instance, in 2013 when he handpicked Mr Lukeman Aminu as the DCE, despite overwhelming protestation from party people and the general population of the district, he oriented him to always confront the sitting MP, Alhaji Ibrahim Dey. The battle between the DCE and the MP needlessly raged till the NDC eventually lost the 2016 elections with both the DCE and the MP losing their positions. He has also created a wide division within the party executives, with constituency chairman on his side working for the defeat of the party’s parliamentary candidate and others also working for victory.

We in Salaga, his hometown, are not surprised that many party activists and supporters nationwide are complaining about Baba Kamara’s negative and destructive roles in ensuring that the party and the President lost the 2016 polls. We have been living witnesses and have been at the receiving end of his wickedness and viciousness since 1992. We, therefore, agonised at the political fate of President Mahama when he brought him closer and later appointed him as his National Security Adviser. We knew from the beginning that it was just a matter of time that disaster would strike our affable and innocent President and his well-performing government. In the Eastern Corridor of the Northern Region that he claims he controls, only one constituency (Salaga North) has been won by the NDC. The Salaga South, (his hometown); Bimbilla, Wulensi, Kpandai, Yendi, have all been lost.
Here in Salaga South, while he hardly supports the party on the ground, he has always stymied our efforts towards building strong structures and always using intimidating tactics against leading members of the party who are willing to support the party.
In the 2016 elections, he sponsored two independent parliamentary candidates from the Salaga South constituency in order to deliberately divide the party’s support base and implant a seed of division to cause the defeat of the party.
Baba Kamara again set up a counter NDC campaign team led by the constituency chairman of the party, Mr Fuseini Yussif, and one Dan Saaka Ahmed, a political turncoat who entered into NDC and contested its parliamentary primary in 2016 ostensibly to cover for his roles in the infamous SADA scandal and seeks political protection from looming prosecution. Baba Kamara gave these two individuals and others resources meant for the party to actually campaign secretly against the party and its parliamentary candidate. As the party lost, we uncovered that they had set up an elaborate and effective underground campaign structure calling for ‘skirt and blouse,’ at mainly NDC strongholds.
In addition, Baba Kamara personally flooded torrent of cash on the NPP parliamentary campaign at the constituency using known NPP supporters. So, in the final analysis, the NPP was able to maintain its support base on the ground while that of the NDC was fragmented with some votes going to the two independent candidates.
Furthermore, campaign materials and resources meant for NDC parliamentary campaigns were diverted to the NPP. This was done according to Baba Kamara in order to “teach the NDC parliamentary candidate some important lessons of life” for disrespecting him, as the political “Overlord” of the constituency.
Again, agents of Baba Kamara, led by the constituency chairman and Mr Dan Saaka Ahmed, used financial inducement to compromise some of the party agents selected to protect the party’s votes across the constituency. Some of the agents have since confessed their sins and regretted their actions.
Last but not the least, the then Police Commander at the East Gonja district and some military men deployed to ensure law and order at the constituency intimidated and later ordered most NDC agents at the Salaga Community Centre where the constituency results were being collated to leave the scene. When confronted, the commander confirmed that he was taking an order from “above”, while he, Baba Kamara (the national security adviser), was staying in his house less than 400 yards from the collation centre. This paved the way for massive irregularities and rigging against the incumbent MP. In fact, the constituency secretary, Mr Thomas Langba, who was leading the party at the collation centre, was told that his safety could not be guaranteed by the security forces and had to immediately vacate the place.
Despite all these machinations by Alhaji Baba Kamara and his paid agents, the parliamentary candidate for the Salaga South constituency, Alhaji Ibrahim Dey, lost the elections by less than 30 votes, with the case pending in court.
While we write this petition to reveal the negative roles played by Baba Kamara and his agents, we also need to take this opportunity to bring to the attention of the party the important positive roles Mr Ibrahim Mahama, President Mahama’s brother, played towards the 2016 elections in the Salaga South constituency. It is his singular and dedicated support that brought us far and we would like to thank him for his support.
With all the issues raised above, we are calling on the NEC and the Dr Kwesi Botchwey-led fact-finding committee to institute a full-scale investigation into the circumstances leading to the loss of the important Salaga South constituency and the (negative) roles played by Alhaji Baba Kamara. The party should work hard to provide a long-lasting antidote to the perennial problems caused by the political activities of Mr. Kamara. In our opinion, this is the only way the party can ever regain the seat and maintain it at the constituency.

SIGNED
Dramani I. Wisdom

Akufo-Addo Have Given James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey chance on Ghnana money

Akufo-Addo Have Given James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey chance on Ghnana money while the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has outdoored a commemorative GH¢ 5 bank note with new security features and design.

The note is to celebrate the Central Bank’s 60th anniversary, which coincides with Ghana’s 60th anniversary.

Below are some of the features on the new GHc 5 note

• The note comes with a new pulsating shine when tilted.

• The new note features an engraved portrait of Dr James Kwegyir Aggrey, a missionary and a teacher in the Gold Coast, who lived from October 18, 1875, to July 30, 1927. Dr James Kwegyir Aggrey contributed immensely to education to the then Gold Coast.

• The portrait is visible from both sides of the note when it is held towards a light.

READ ALSO:  New GH¢5 note out; Kwegyir Aggrey replaces 'big six

James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey (October 18, 1875 – July 30, 1927) was an intellectual, missionary, and teacher. He was a native of the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) who later emigrated to the United States, but returned to Africa for several years.He was born in Anomabo, the son of the Kwadwo Kwegyir, a friend of the then master chieftain Amonu IV. In the June 1883, he was baptized in a municipality in the the in Gold Coast and accepted his Christian first name James. He attended a Methodist school in Cape Coast, where the teachers noted that he was precocious, already studying Greek and Latin, and he subsequently rose to become the school's headmaster.
In 1898, at the age of 23, he was selected due to his education to be trained in the United States as a missionary. On July 10, 1898, Aggrey agreed and left the Gold Coast for the United States, where he settled in Salisbury, North Carolina, and attended the Livingstone College. He studied a variety of subjects at the university, including chemistry, physics, logic, economics and politics. In May 1902 he graduated from the university with three academic degrees. Aggrey was very talented in language and was said to have spoken (beside English) French, German, Ancient and Modern Greek, and Latin.
In November 1903 he was appointed the minister of the African Methodists Zion church in Salisbury. In 1905 he married Rose Douglas, a native of Virginia, with whom he had four children. In the same year he began to teach at Livingstone College. In 1912 he earned his doctorate in theology, and in 1914 followed a doctorate in osteopathy. In the same year he transferred employment to a small municipality to North Carolina. Between 1915 and 1917 Aggrey took up further studies at what is now known as Columbia University, where he studied sociology, psychology and the Japanese language.
In 1920 Paul Monroe, a member of the Phelps Stokes Fund offered Aggrey the opportunity to attend a research expedition to Africa to determine which measures were necessary for the improvement of education in Africa. Aggrey accepted and visited what are now ten different countries in Africa, where he collected and analyzed education data. In 1920 he visited Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Gold Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria. In 1921 he visited the Belgian Congo, Angola and South Africa.
During this journey Aggrey made a significant impression and underscored the importance of education among some people who would become important figures in Africa, including Hastings Kamuzu Banda, later president of Malawi, Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first president of Nigeria, and Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.
In Ghana he delivered a lecture that persuaded Governor Guggisberg that Achimota College should be co-educational:He was the first vice Principal of Achimota College.
“The surest way to keep people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation"
In South Africa he delivered a lecture which used the keys of the piano as an image of racial harmony:

I don’t care what you know; show me what you can do. Many of my people who get educated don’t work, but take to drink. They see white people drink, so they think they must drink too. They imitate the weakness of the white people, but not their greatness. They won’t imitate a white man working hard... If you play only the white notes on a piano you get only sharps; if only the black keys you get flats; but if you play the two together you get harmony and beautiful music.

This image was the inspiration for the name adopted by the journal of the League of Coloured Peoples, The Keys.
In 1924 Aggrey was appointed by the governor of the Crown Colony Gold Coast Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg as the First Vice Principal of Achimota College in Accra.He designed the emblem of Achimota College. He resettled with his wife and children at the college, north of Accra.
In May 1927 he returned to the United States, and in July admitted to a hospital in Harlem, New York, where he died later that month

Volta regional minister wants Founder of the Separatist group dead alleges

The Founder of the Separatist group called Homeland study group foundation Charles Kormi Kudjordji has accused the Volta Regional Minister Dr Archibald Letsa of a perceived attempt to kill him.

He claimed the regional minister during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament suggested that he should be charged with treason for calling for a secession of the Volta region to Western Togoland State.

Speaking on Ultimate Breakfast Show hosted by Lantam Papanko, Mr Kudjordji alleged that the Volta Regional Police Command which arrested him and two members of the group are acting upon the minister’s pronouncement.

He further accused the regional minister of being the cause of the emerging confusion in the region saying the latter cannot be a profitable minister.

A livid Separatist leader dared the minister to organise his men to kill.

‘We don’t invite politicians to our meetings. Ghanaians must not suspect that its the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which is pushing us, no, no politician has been giving us money, we don’t have a pesewa. That man (Archibald) is not a matured politician at all. If he were to be matured, he wouldn’t have been losing elections persistently.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) made a mistake by appointing him the regional minister. He wore wellington boots by bringing this confusion now, he will not be a profitable minister. If he could organise people to kill me in my house, he could do so, if he doesn’t wish me death, would he say they should charge me for treason and be killed, he told them that, in Ewe land if you tell somebody that I will show you, its an offence and its not good, that is what it means, he said kill him, that is what he said during the vetting, and that is what the police are doing, the police are acting on his advice,’ he pointed out.

The 78- year old man who is facing treason and possible death if charged refuted claims that they want to breakaway from Ghana.

He questioned why the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has refused to rename Volta region to Western Togoland State.

‘In the interest of peace, am a Ghanaian, I do everything Ghanaian, my pension is paid by Ghana, but we want the truth to be known,’ he said.

Asked if he is prepared to die for this cause, he retorted, ‘If I die my name will remain in history books, but that is not what am looking for, am looking for the truth to be established, what is difficult about this on the part of Ghana, Nana Addo can easily do it, people are trying to confuse him including the regional minister? he asked’

Festivals in Ghana

Festivals in Ghana occur throughout the whole year and are used as a means to remember their ancestors and to be protected and favoured by them, but they are also held to purify the area and allow its people to go into the new year with hope. They are a year round affair with different regions, ethnic groups and tribes having different celebrations. These rituals and celebrations are an important part of daily life and this can be easily seen by the large gatherings that are seen at festivals, marriages and funerals.

The importance of each festival's celebration includes:

• Planning developmental project. The festival is used as an occasions to meet and plan developmental projects in the area since most citizens are likely to attend.
• Purification of gods. The period is used to clean ancestral stools and perform important rites.
• Thanksgiving. The festival is used to thank the supreme God and the lesser gods for the guidance and protection
• National and political significance. Prominent people in the government are invited to explain government policies and programmes.
• Dispute resolution. The occasion is used to settle family and individual disputes for peaceful co-existence.
• To promote tourism. Some festivals celebrated in Ghana attract many foreign tourists to the country. An example is the Aboakyir festival. Tourism is the third foreign-exchange earner for Ghana.

To preserve and maintain cultural and traditional heritage
The Akan annual calendar is divided into nine parts, each lasting approximately six weeks but varying between 40–42 days in a period; the celebration of this period is called the Adae Festival. The Adae Festival has two celebration days: the Akwasidae Festival is celebrated on the final Sunday of the period, while the Awukudae Festival is celebrated on a Wednesday within the period. The Friday preceding 10 days to the Akwasidae is called the Fofie (meaning a ritual Friday). As the festival is always held on Sundays (Twi in Kwasidae), its recurrence could be after 40 or 42 days in accordance with the official Calendar of Ashanti. During the last Akwasidae of the year, which coincides with the Adae Kese Festival, special attention is given to make food offerings and donations for helping people. The festivals of Adae are not interchangeable as they were fixed from ancient time
The rites on this day relate to honouring personal and community ancestors. A gathering called Akom occurs in which drumming, dancing and singing are a normal celebration to honour Abosom (lesser gods in the Akan tradition) and Nsamanfo (spiritually cultivated ancestors). Food offerings include special items such as eto (mashed African yam), garnished with hard-boiled eggs. Every Ashanti celebrates this festival.For those Ashanti who do not observe the festival of Odwira, the Akwasidae is very important to commemorate their ancestors.
On this day, the Asantehene (King of Ashante) meets his subjects and subordinate chiefs in the courtyard of the Manhyia Palace.The Golden Stool (throne) is displayed at the palace grounds in the presence of the king, and people visit in large numbers, singing and dancing. The king holds his durbar on the occasion of the festival, and people have the liberty to shake hands with him. Before holding the durbar, the king goes in a procession in a palanquin decorated with gold jewelery. He also witnesses a colourful parade, from his palace grounds at Kumasi. Participants of the parade include drum beaters, folk dancers, horn-blowers and singers. As it is festival of paying respect to ancestors, the king visits the Bantama Mausoleum and offers worship not only to his ancestors' chairs (stools), but also to the skeletal remains of his ancestors. It is argued that, the king do not worship the stools and the ancestors, however to pay them homage.

Chair of the Electoral Commission of Ghana responds to sex claims

Chair of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei says she is not perturbed by comments suggesting that she may have traded sex for the position she currently holds.

Speaking for the first time on the issue since she was appointed boss of the electoral commission by former president John Mahama, she said the comments don’t bother her.

“My sense of self should not come from somebody who does not know me. If the person thinks I got my job through sexual favours, surely, there are other more rewarding and less difficult jobs I could use that sexual favours for.

“And in any case, this is man who is sleeping with other women, so why didn’t he give the job to those women,” she queried.

After Mrs Osei was appointed EC boss, Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong said she was behaving as if she got her job by exchanging sexual favours and advised her to “bring your derriere in exchange for the EC Chair position”.
Mr Agyapong was roundly condemned for the comments which he later said were taken out of context.

On the day set aside to celebrate women – International Women’s Day – Mrs Osei responded to the issue.

She was answering a question posed by Samira Bawumia, wife Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, who hosted the International Women's Day edition of Joy FM's Super Morning Show.

Samira wanted to know how Mrs Osei felt when she heard the comments.

In response, the first female head of Ghana's elections governing body, the EC, said although it was unpalatable, she saw it as a challenge to do better.

In her view, men generally tend to prevent women from coming into their space, so once a woman is given the opportunity to be like them, they do all they can to bring her down.

“So they are going to throw everything at you to just to get you out of that space. then you recognize those comments for the distractions that they are and you just focus on doing what you have been called to do and to do an excellent job,” she said.

Instead of letting this get to her, Mrs Osei said she draws strength from God and does only what she’s been told by Him.

“That’s all that matters to me. If God tells me, 'go and do this assignment', I may not like the assignment, but I have to trust that there is a reason why I have been asked to do it. And also you believe that the person who has sent you, will empower you to do it.

“So for me, that is my starting point, and so I go in with that confidence that comes from the person that has given me the assignment.”

She bemoaned the societal attitude which tends to vilify all women and discriminate against them because one woman has failed at a particular assignment.

"We don’t have the right to fail, to make mistakes or to be mediocre, men have been failing throughout history, but they do not think that other men should be judged by the failures of one man," she said.

She encouraged women to psyche themselves up that men will not give them the chance, but they must show up prepared to deliver and also give off their very best at all times.

“So you know that you need to apply yourself, you need to work really hard, you need to be very diligent in what you are doing and you need to constantly add to your knowledge base and your skills.”

Mrs Osei challenged women to acknowledge that they cannot excel at everything they do at the same time and should not be hard on themselves when they fail at a particular thing while they juggle with their roles as mothers and career women.

She advised that women watch out for each other and "be more supportive and less judgemental of other women."