Daavi Ama dares Nunoo-Mensah -Challenges him to tell the 'worse things' he did with NPP

The National Treasurer of the New Patriotic Party, Gifty Ama  Asantewaa Ayeh, affectionately known as Daavi Ama, has challenged Brigadier General (Rtd) Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, to be bold and come out to tell the whole world the so-called "worse things' he claims to have done with the NPP when the party was in opposition.

The former Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces is among a group of former security capos who have been banned by the National Security outfit from entering any security installation in the country, following a meeting they had with former President Rawlings recently.

In an interview with The Chronicle, which was carried in the Monday, September 29, 2008 edition of the paper, Brigadier-General (Rtd) Nunoo-Mensah was reported to have said that 'he, together with top New Patriotic Party officials held several secret meetings and discussed a number of national issues during the regime of the National Democratic Congress.'

'He regretted that at that time, the NPP officials he was holding the meetings with did not think that it could be a coup plot to overthrow Rawlings and the NDC government.  He said because the NPP have taken over the reigns of government, they now think he can plot a coup with former President Rawlings, just because he had had lunch with the latter at his residence,' the story added.

But, in a sharp response Daavi Ama has dared the former CDS to come out with all the facts available to him to substantiate the allegations he has made against the NPP, adding 'it is only cowards who echo and make noise about what they intend to do.'

Speaking in an interview with The Statesman yesterday, the NPP Treasurer admitted that before the 2000 general elections Brig. Nunoo-Mensah had some meetings with some NPP officials because he was a member of the party's Research Committee tasked to conduct background checks of people who were seeking to contest the parliamentary elections on the ticket of the NPP.

'The respected General was a member of the constitutionally constituted Research Committee of the party. I was a member, together with another retired Brigadier, as well as the late Hon Osei Kwaku and the late Hon Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu and others. Yes, we were meeting and openly comparing notes, brainstorming and putting our findings and ideas together,' she recalled.

Daavi Ama continued: 'I wonder if that was what he described as the secret meetings he held with some top echelons of the party. So if the respected General was having secret meetings with other groups in the party he should come out and name the members, and reveal to the entire world the so-called worse things he did with them because we are all interested to know.'

The NPP National Treasurer described as unhelpful the reported claim by Brig. Nunoo-Mensah that 'he does not need to move physically to Burma Camp to gather and incite soldiers if he had the intention of staging a coup.'

Daavi Ama, a victim of the brutalities of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, assured the nation that the National Security outfit was on top of its job, and that no individual or group with diabolical intentions would be allowed to hold the nation to ransom again and derail the gains made in the nation's democratic dispensation.

'We have come a long way on our democratic journey, with a lot of sacrifice made by many well-meaning Ghanaians, so there is no way we will sit done and allows people with evil intentions to take us back because they want to satisfy their inordinate quest for power.' she insisted.

According to Brig. Nunoo-Mensah, despite the much publicised ban placed on him and others, 'I still call and visit Rawlings at his North Ridge residence,' reportedly adding that he continues to keep company with the former President because 'they all have the same character trait.'

'They can meet hundred times to do whatever they want to do, because that is their right, but I can also state with all certainty that as far as the NPP government has the mandate of the people, and in the name of Jesus Christ, there won't be any coup in this country because nobody in this country wants us to go back to the AFRC and PNDC days,' Daavi Ama responded.