Why Didn’t You ‘Snub’ Akufo-Addo? …Boakye Agyarko ‘Boys’ Question Minister

Credible information, backed by audio evidences, suggest that the ongoing campaign towards the selection of a parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Lower Manya Krobo Constituency, in the Eastern Region, is getting nastier than expected, as some local party kingpins are reportedly muddying the political waters and smearing the Presidency, in a desperate bid to confuse delegates on developments in the area.

The constituency, which nearly saw a switch of political power for the first time in the 2016 elections from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is now bedeviled with acrimony and unsubstantiated mudslinging.

THE NEW PUBLISHER has reliably gathered that some party elders in the constituency, who are parading themselves as sympathizers of Mr. Boakye Agyarko, former Energy Minister, and also acting as supporters of Mrs. Linda Korkortsu Adadevoh, one of the two aspirants in the parliamentary race, are fuming at the deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Nuertey Ayertey (aka Teddy), for not ‘snubbing’ President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, when he (President) offered to appoint Ayertey to his current position.

To them, the deputy minister’s acceptance to serve as minister in the Nana Addo administration was a betrayal to the cause of Boakye Agyarko, who was at the time sacked as Energy Minister over his handling of the AMERI deal.

Tendering a document, supposed to have been the resignation letter of the former deputy regional minister and current Member of Parliament for Upper Manya Krobo Constituency, Hon. Joseph Tetteh (aka Joe Tee), which reports say was triggered by the sacking of Agyarko, to delegates in Akuse, Kpong, Nuaso and Manyakpongunor, the campaign team, told delegates that they had the backing of some party financiers in the constituency and some people at the presidency, stressing that Teddy must be ‘punished’ for accepting the president’s offer.

In an audio, one spokesperson, whose name was given as Thompson, was heard hammering on Joe Tee’s original resignation letter to the President, and again questioning why Mr. Ayertey too did not show the same level of ‘loyalty and solidarity’ with Boakye Agrako, but decided to go along with Nana Addo.

It will be recalled that, on Monday 6^th August, 2018, the President fired Mr. Agyarko from his government, barely after eighteen months as minister. Even though the exact reason was not clearly specified in the sack letter, political observers said the President felt ‘misled’ by the former minister due to his presentation to Parliament regarding AMERI.

The sack, according to some people, provoked the resignation of Hon. Tetteh as deputy Eastern Regional minister. Strong political links in Lower Manya Krobo have hinted the paper that, there is currently some bad blood between Mr. Agyarko and Teddy over the latter’s failure to show solidarism with him, when it mattered most.

Agyarko tacitly threw his weight behind one Moses Okley, a senior officer at the treasury department of the controversial Power Distribution Services (PDS). But unfortunately, after subtly campaigning for over one year, that mission did not see the light of day as Okley’s political self-image was deflated by his inability to play any instrumental role in resolving the Krobo-PDS brouhaha, which led to the murder in cold blood of one Thomas Adeke, a popular youth in the area.

Interestingly, no sooner had Okley decided to opt out of the race, than news began hovering on some social media that Mr. Agyarko was lacing his boots to contest for the Lower Manya Krobo NPP primaries. The news quickly sent tongues wagging in the constituency, about the rationale behind the decision, until it was denied several hours later by the former minister.

And in a related development, a former constituency secretary to the party, Mr. Elias Aduimado, reportedly told delegates at Kpong and other places that, apart from the fact that the Second Lady, Hajia Samira Bawumia, had thrown her weight behind Linda Adadevoh’s candidacy, President Akufo-Addo, and for that matter the Office of the President, was aware that only Linda would capture the seat for the party.

But delegates, who called the paper’s offices in Accra yesterday, said they had already made up their minds, and would not be swayed by the smear campaigns that they believed were being orchestrated by some senior people in the constituency to settle political scores.

Boakye Agyarko is currently the coordinator of the so-called Krobo Bloc, a group comprising four constituencies in the area, and supposedly put together to rally votes in Kroboland behind the Akufo-Addo government; but this revelation seems to point to an agenda to split the party instead.

MORE SOON.