I Would Not Be Surprised

It would be very intriguing to learn of what transpires, ultimately, in the defamation lawsuit that has been reportedly filed by Mr. Samuel Koku Anyidoho, in which the former Atta-Mills’ Presidential Communications Director, is seeking GHȻ 10 Million in damages from another National Democratic Congress’ activist by the name of Mr. Dzifa Gunu, for allegedly claiming that Mr. Anyidoho, a former Deputy General-Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), had visited some shrines in the republics of Benin and Togo looking to have former President John “Expedition Kanazoe” Dramani Mahama liquidated for reasons that are not stated in the news report carrying the preceding allegation, which may presumably be revealed during the course of the proceedings of the alleged suit (See “Koku Anyidoho Sues NDC’s Dzifa Gunu for Defamation” Modernghana.com 1/28/21).

As well, Mr. Anyidoho is reported to be suing Mr. Gunu for rather wickedly and insensitively claiming that the plaintiff was responsible for the recent tragic death of Mr. Anyidoho’s own 8-year-old daughter. Now, this is rather deep stuff, as New Yorkers are wont to say. Yea, deep stuff because by some of his cryptic remarks following the “mysterious” death of the then-President John Evans Atta-Mills in July 2012, it is quite clear that Messrs. Anyidoho and Mahama may not be on the best of terms, as it were. For example, Mr. Anyidoho has been widely reported by the Ghanaian media to have said that while he had worked for former President Mahama as a sheer matter of duty, on the other hand, Mr. Anyidoho had worked for the late President Atta-Mills purely out of his love for the retired law professor of Ghana’s flagship academy, to wit, the University of Ghana, Legon.

The plaintiff has also been reported to have said that he could not bring himself to campaign for Candidate Mahama in the leadup to the 2020 Presidential Election, partly because he had not officially been invited to do so, and partly because Mr. Anyidoho felt palpably antagonized by some of the key operatives of the National Democratic Congress. Of course, we are also all of well aware of the fact that more than 12 years after the death of President Atta-Mills, his then-Vice-President, that is, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, has yet to tell Ghanaians whether he read the autopsy report on the death of his former immediate boss before euphorically announcing to the nation and the global Ghanaian community that “Divine Providence,” in His inscrutable wisdom, had implicitly and auspiciously removed his predecessor in order to crown the former NDC-MP from Bole-Bamboi, Gonja-West, in the Akufo-Addo-created Savannah Region, the first post-colonially born Ghanaian leader.

Now, these are not innuendoes that can or must be taken lightly, although the Mills Clan and Family appear to have come to terms with this catastrophic, and some may even say, apocalyptic, event. It has also not the least bit helped matters that when he had been vehemently pressed to disclose the circumstances surrounding the death of President Atta-Mills, all that the latter’s former Arch-Lieutenant has had occasion to let on has been to sheepishly assert that “I did not kill President Mills,” thus widely opening up speculation regarding the fact of whether President Mills had not met with foul play. You see, simply claiming that “I did not kill President Mills” does not close up or head off the possibility of the late President’s having been assassinated by somebody else. The more definitive response from the former Arch-Lieutenant to the Dead President ought to have been something along the lines of “President Mills did not die by foul play,” or “President Mills died of natural causes. I know what I am talking about because I promptly demanded and was provided with an autopsy report by the coroner at the 37^th Military Hospital.”

You see, for the preceding reasons alone, under absolutely no circumstances ought Mr. Mahama have been allowed by the movers-and-shakers of the National Democratic Congress to have gunned for the Presidency in the 2020 Presidential Election, whose validity and integrity the former President is presently contesting at the Supreme Court of Ghana (SCOG). There is a massive cloud hanging over Mr. Mahama’s head, insofar as closure to the death of President Mills is concerned. This is where my interest in the Anyidoho defamation suit lies. If it is also true that Mr. Gunu had written on his Facebook Wall, in addition to the preceding subject, that Mr. Anyidoho was responsible for the death of his own daughter, then I bet Mr. Gunu has an even more serious and bigger case on his hands. It also well appears that some Ghanaian citizens may very well be in dire need of tutorials on the appropriate use of their free-speech rights and responsibilities.

*Visit my blog at: KwameOkoampaAhoofeJr

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

January 30, 2021

E-mail: [email protected]