The end of a scandal: "Compose a song for Tsatsu, and not Rosa !" Part One

What A Friend We Have In Rosa!
How An Okro-Mouth Revealed A Secret Plot!
Monday 12 January 2009, by Peace is Justice and Fairness Campaign

For the avoidance of any doubts, the reason why I am still pursuing this cause is because I think it is not too late for Nana Akufo Addo and his team to go to jail in the US for breaking an important law. It would be the unfortunate duty of an Atta-Mills Administration to prosecute such a serious crime, but for the sake of stability it is highly recommended that the US bear the brunt since not only Ghanaian laws were broken but that of the US. For the first time in my life, I felt that the best way the US could promote democracy in Africa is to uphold the rule of law in the US! By simply making their laws that prohibit the funding of foreign political parties by US multinationals bite, the United States could play a very crucial role in making our democracy work and not be undermined by big corporations.

Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah
On the the morning of 16 June 2008, I woke in very high spirits as I pondered on the ramifications of the news that the Akufo Addo Team had been "busted in Washington" over a fund raising scandal involving US multinationals. I knew it was the kind of scandal that even if the US government did not like, would certainly have a hard time to contain. I also believed that the Akufo Addo team was in the US for money to finance their campaign and they would not find themselves with very rich people interested in doing business in Ghana, just to be lectured by the familiar right wing economic policies that they themselves have been participants in promoting. The donors also must have know why they were there.

I was particularly amused at the ridiculous way that the political damage control they mounted seemed to have fallen apart completely, running in all directions on the weight of uncoordinated lies, all saying different things and trying to cover up the same story, in the way children do after a mischief. By the time I was going to bed on the night of the 17th of June, 2008, I knew the NPP was finished even before the elections! "This is a scandal they can never survive!", I told myself.

Rosa Whitaker had joined the battle to improve the image of her lobby company The Whitaker Group LLC;, which was in epicentre of this scandal. She received enormous support from the NPP propaganda machine. Unfortunately Rosa had her own scandals that did not help. Her treatment of an Ugandan girl she had brought to the US herself from Kampala, the reports of how much the government was paying her for her services also was not the best time for such news. In short the campaign was crumbling fast! All of a sudden, another publication by the Enquirer by way of a rejoinder to their initial responses by The Whitaker Group, followed by the NPP USA, then the US Ghana Embassy, and the Akufo Addo Campaign Team, poured more fuel on the fire by exposing the contradictions between what each of the people who rose to respond to the earlier allegations had said. This was too much. The scandal could not be killed with some hush hush statements!

I was so amused at the feeble attempts to prop up the tattered image of Ms Whitaker Duncan-Williams in all these. It all began on the 13th of June when the propaganda machine of the NPP came out with a publication with the tittle: "Lies over Rosa Whitaker exposed" "After a failed attempt at destroying Nana Akufo-Addo's successful trip to the United States, The Weekend Crusading Guide has picked up signals of deliberate attempts by some sections of the media to destroy the hard earned image of Rosa Whitaker, the CEO of The Whitaker Group (TWG) a reputable multinational consultancy firm in United States.

Desperate attempts to label Rosa Whitaker, now wife of Bishop Duncan Williams, and Whitaker Group as a political entity, have started backfiring in the face of hard facts of the company's solid track record of assisting and promoting investments for African countries in the past years." (More....)

I was so happy that all of a sudden a tune sprang up in my mind! I started humming it. It was the tune of "What A Friend We Have In Jesus!" Initially, I could not recognise it. By the time I made the first two verses I did not even know why I had picked this tune. As I wrote on the comments page of myjoyonline.com under this topic, I finally came up with following composition:

What a friend we have in Rosa!
Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/16/2008 10:43:57 AM

What a friend we have in Rosa! All our griefs and pain to bear? What a privilege to carry Enough dollars to Rosa!

Oh what profits we often forfeit! Oh what needless pain we bear? All because we do not carry, Enough dollars to Rosa!

Rosa Whitaker, our sister, We are plantation niggers We are not house niggers like you, Would you please leave us alone?

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? It's all because we do not carry E-nough dollars to Rosa!

Addo Danquah Akufo Addo Is that all that you can do? Sell our natural resources To finance your clean campaign?

Arthur Kobina Kennedy, Here is a question from Ali, Do all the MPs enjoy this luncheon When they go to Washington?

Or because Rosa Whitaker, Had a little deal for you? Your performance was mediocre I expected more from you!

Kenyan Frontiers all quiet! Kwame Okoampa is hiding This song is intended to smoke him out And I'm sure he will respond!

He's got his reputation at stake, The big mouth of the NPP! Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe, Please come and let's spar man-to-man!

Stop sending me insulting e-mails The action is right here! Don't chicken out like a baby I thought you were a real man!

The worst legacy of colonialism Was its ability to train and equip Stooges and traitors remotely controlled From London and Washington!

To undermine whatever our independence Was supposed to mean for us They just robb us and expect us To be grateful even for that!

Amen!

I in the course of the development of my song, on myjoyonline, I received the following comment:

OOOH JEHU APPIAH LEAVE ROSA ALONE
Posted By: Kojo Mensah VIRGINIA , 6/13/2008 3:36:13 PM

ooh Jehu Appiah, you have been selling at walmart for over 10 years, you write good poems but the only problem you have is the sense in it. May God grant you sense to appreciate goodies for mother Ghana. I would be at walmart tommorow for us to debate this issue. We have been here for too long maybe we should be thinking of going home, myself i am tired of this homedepot schedules, why dont we work hard like Rosa, we have been criticising all this years for nothing to which I responded:

My intention is just fun, no harm meant!
Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/14/2008 10:14:54 AM

"Hello Kojo Mensah from VIRGINIA ,
No, I wouldn't be at walmart tomorrow for us to debate this issue. If you like let's do it right here online. I'm sure it is of public interest. Besides Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah is based in Belgium and does not work and has never worked for Wallmart in Virginia. Keep my family out of this. You see, the Jehu-Appiah family is a very large one today, and there are Jehu-Appiahs everywhere. In Ghana, in England, in the USA, and on continental Europe. There are equally Jehu-Appiahs in the NPP, Jehu-Appiahs in the NDC, and Jehu-Appiahs in the CPP. PNC etc.

I am a friend of Dan Lartey, but a Jehu-Appiah of the CPP. I was active in the struggle against the PNDC dictatorship in Ghana. My closest political friends at that time and continue to be my living heroes like MLK Amoah, Sallas Nortey, Akoto Ampaw, Kwesi Pratt, Jnr..... Do you want me to continue or you see already where I am coming from?

I am currently the president of La Trancheé Locale (which translated, gives The Local Trench) based in Belgium. We are trying to specialise in non-violent methods of resistance against neocolonialism.

Thank you for your comments. Don't worry if they don't make sense. That's not the objective. My aim is to have fun. I think I'm only amusing myself because it gives me so much pleasure to observe that people are not that stupid to swallow the political damage control gambit of the Rosa Whitaker empire.

I accept your offer for a debate because I notice that even though you do disagree with me you do so in such an appetising manner, that I think you are a nice person to talk to. I'll tell you what I think about all of this, then you tell me yours; OK?

Whether you like it or not at the end of the day, we have here a simple case of using state resources to finance a political campaign skewed with scatterbrained chicanery to deny the main opposition party similar opportunities because one is an MP and the other is not.

Also, as if they seem to be collapsing under their own weight, the principal characters in the saga are becoming shadier by the clock! All those who know me very well know that I churn out a lot of songs in my bathroom in moments like this!

I feel perfectly enthused by a happy muse"
On account of the way he was defending the scandal, I thought it was time ti invite Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe Jr. to a duel on under each topic on this scandal. I sent the following e-mail to him which was also posted on the myjoyonline:

An Invitation to a guru!
Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/14/2008 1:50:35 PM

Attn: Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe
Hello Dr. Ahoofe Master,
I write to invite you to give an independent assessment on a debate proposal from a very nice person whom I disagree with on this Rosa Whitaker Affair.

It is upon reading your article on this subject matter, and the nature of your loud mouth that makes me eager to meet you in this debate, if you would be kind enough to spare the time.

if you don't mind, even though Myjoyonline has a very decent forum and the use of abusive language is strongly discouraged, you may still try it and see.

Frankly I prefer a debate of ideas rather than a competition of who can insult the other most.

I look forward to a civil and serious debate on this affair because it will not go away.

I avail myself the opportunity to express clearly to you, the assurance of my highest considerations.

Sincerely, ali
In the meanwhile an accomplice of Okoampa on the web who goes by the name of Kofi Freeman appeared.

maybe its a mistake of identity, jehu appiah, Rosa is a savior

Posted By: maybe its a mistake , 6/14/2008 7:35:15 PM

i thought u were my body at wallmart sorry for the inconvenience okay. but i look forward for a debate

Re: maybe its a mistake of identity, jehu appiah, Rosa is a savior

Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/15/2008 9:22:00 AM

Hi Kojo Mensah from VIRGINIA, The debate is already on! Please do not run away from me! I will do nothing to you!

I have invited a loud-mouthed expert, To give you a helping hand! I am waitng for your answer! Come on what is your take now?

Is it Rosa Whitaker our saviour, Don't mind Ali-Masmadi? Concentrate on milking Ghana, Enough dollars to Rosa!

In the middle of my excitement I saw the following posting:

There are more questions than answers, Mr Ali... Posted By: Kofi Freeman , 6/15/2008 9:55:42 PM Perhaps from your trench you have to dictate to everybody else about what to write or not. What was your core issue? that so much has been paid to Rosa Whitaker to campaign for NPP in USA for them to win elections in Ghana. NDUOM is already on the gravy train even during a visit to his daughter's Yale graduation. No political grouping loves the gravy train than the one you join: On level playing field, I ask tenderly: Who gave us One-Party State funded in full by the state against other Political Parties? How did PNDC sponsor its NDC between 1992 and 2000?

Well, we all want the same thing: political Power, inn'it? I say my Party has been in power less than 13 years, whiles your Party CPP and its cousins PNDC/NRC have been in power for 43 years. And that the state of the country has not been any worse than what we all know. But NPP government does not want Trenchy, anti-neocolonialist, moribund, archaic, socialist Politics: Even Rawlings did not want it.

Rosa brought investors to exploit oil: Tsatsu Tsikata, a Premier Socialist par excellence, diverted monies meant for the same purpose to ghost projects. I still support your determination to be a watchdog of our newfound OIL, so that Rosa and her Bishop do not sink their bloodied talons into it. but I do not wish to argue with people who are selective and prejudiced.

I did not hesitate to shoot back with;
Re: Your Tender Question, Mr. Freeman?
Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/16/2008 8:44:25 AM

Hi Ben,
On a more seriuos note, thanks for attempt to respond to the following:

"Whether you like it or not at the end of the day, we have here a simple case of using state resources to finance a political campaign skewed with scatterbrained chicanery to deny the main opposition party, similar opportunities, because one is an MP and the other is not."

Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah
If I understand you well, your party thinks it has the right to steal because everybody else is stealing, is that your point? I like your tender question, and this is my humble answer, when a political party begins to throw bombs and grenades at their opponents it becomes a political army and no longer a political party.

When a party abdicates from the civil responsibility to use only the force of their arguments to influence public opinion instead of the argument of force, it decrees by its own conduct and the vacuum created by its own mischiefs, a one-party state. If a man marries a woman, he is called a married man. If that woman goes away, he becomes a one party state, sorry, a single man!

Is this your democracy?
Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/14/2008 8:50:54 PM

Hello Kofi Freeman,
Please, I take the liberty to declare your reaction as non-responsive. If you focus on the core of my message, I would have time to deal with your supplementary issues. Until then, like the workers of an airport control tower who went on strike with a message on an answering machine for in-coming pilots "Halo, halo, this is Kinston Ainternational Yerport! We have gone to the beach. You can land your plane after the beep!"

Maybe you don't see my face and I must probably be sounding like someone you can easily divert with some ridiculous hocus pocus. How funny, I said the following, what is your take?

"Whether you like it or not at the end of the day, we have here a simple case of using state resources to finance a political campaign skewed with scatterbrained chicanery to deny the main opposition party, similar opportunities, because one is an MP and the other is not."

Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah
Okoampa had not appeared. I decided to tease him out of his hole, when I got his e-mail, by declaring a victory over him:

Breaking News: The Almighty Loud-Mouthed Okoampa Ahoofe Chickens Out!

Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/16/2008 6:05:32 PM

"The worst legacy of colonialism was its ability to train, equip stooges and traitors remote-controlled from London and Washington to undermine whatever our indepence means to us!"

Pur'gu Sarpe , Hotel Kuffour , 21/02/2007 11:02:01 A

This reminds me a bit of an old man called Uncle Newman. He fought for her Majesty's Government in the Second World War in Kenya. Mr. Newman happened to be the soldier who reported to his superiors about the end of hostilities after the enemy ceased to return fire.

The old man Newman, used to re-enact the scene of reporting to his superiors each time he was drunk. In other words, he did that every day, and depending on how much he had taken in, he would just fall down attempting to take the military salute.

All one had to do was to imitate the Colonial officer and call out his name, " E. K. Newman!" "Yes sir!," the response was automatic, the salute would follow, and then the famous words, "Kenyan frontiers all quiet!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, today I can very proudly tell you that the chief propagandist of the NPP on the Internet has fallen. He has chickened out! After all his loud mouth, telling me: as Pur'gu Sarpe:

Don't be a coward; Ghana is no nation for cowards! Come out of your ridiculous pseudonym and let's spar man-to-man. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr. , Garden City, New York , 17/02/2007 7:38:57 é

It made me so angry that I have been using my real name since. I am here inviting him to a debate in a decent forum, after having written one of his "learned" articles on the subject and I even have to appeal, in the name of public interest to allow the foul language of one of the men defending Rosa Whitaker on the pages of Ghanaweb:

from [email protected] to [email protected] date 16 June 2008 15:55 subject Re: What a friend we have in Rosa! mailed-by aol.com

"Direct your silly, mediocre and myopic questions to Mr. Kufuor!"

I think there is a lot of public interest to allow this publication because it is an interesting sign of the unprecedented cracks imploding steadily in the NPP! Mark my words, oh yes mark my words!!!

His language must be further exposed, and since I was the intended target I publicly pardon him and formally request this publication.

his e-mail address follows every article that he writes so it is very public already. No worries.

I have already forwarded a copy of his message to my friend Kwesi Pratt, Jnr just to laugh a little bit, so you may check authenticity. As for Dr. Ahoofe, I am not sure he is in a very good mood for the moment. He may not be able to confirm. You may want to find out though!

Kenya Frontiers All Quiet!
The worst legacy of colonialism Was its ability to train and equip Stooges and traitors remotely controlled From London and Washington

To undermine whatever our independence Was supposed to mean for us They just rob us and expect us To be grateful even for that!

Amen!
It worked, because I made certain to him that this was not just an ordinary page and that it was also circulating in e-mails with links to the page!

I was surprised at Okoampa's reaction: He just came to the site and tried to muffle me right in front of my nose!

This is what he left:

You have to raise the bar in your political debates, Ali!
Posted By: Seidu Alhassan , 6/17/2008 10:43:40 PM
CHIEF CPP propagandist chases Ahoofe/Rosa out of town, and make this statement as follows:

"Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah is based in Belgium and does not work and has never worked for Wallmart in Virginia. Keep my family out of this. You see, the Jehu-Appiah family is a very large one today, and there are Jehu-Appiahs everywhere. In Ghana, in England, in the USA, and on continental Europe. There are equally Jehu-Appiahs in the NPP, Jehu-Appiahs in the NDC, and Jehu-Appiahs in the CPP. PNC etc.

My friend is Dan Lartey, but a Jehu-Appiah of the CPP. I was active in the struggle against the PNDC dictatorship in Ghana. My closest political friends at that time and continue to be my living heroes like MLK Amoah, Sallas Nortey, Akoto Ampaw, Kwesi Pratt, Jnr..... Do you want me to continue or you see already where I am coming from?

I am currently the president of La Tranchee Locale (which translated, gives The Local Trench) based in Belgium. We are trying to specialise in non-violent methods of resistance against neocolonialism Maybe you don't see my face and I must probably be sounding like someone you can easily divert with some ridiculous hocus pocus. How funny, I said the following, what is your take?

"The worst legacy of colonialism was its ability to train, equip stooges and traitors remote-controlled from London and Washington to undermine whatever our independece means to us!"

To undermine whatever our independence Was supposed to mean for us They just rob us and expect us To be grateful even for that

If I understand you well, your party thinks it has the right to steal because everybody else is stealing, is that your point? I like your tender question, and this is my humble answer, when a political party begins to throw bombs and grenades at their opponents it becomes a political army and no longer a political party.

My core issue very is simple: "This is not democracy You cannot use state resources To promote only one side!"

*************************************************************

What vituperative self adulation and name dropping and ideological trash! Yet the job is yours, Oil Czar. I would always welcome whomsoever becomes a watchdog of Ghana's resources, but where you when Obuasi gold mine was being auctioned by the other social democrats? Which one are you? Trench Socialist; Venezuela socialist, CPP socialist or the next Che Guevara of the Web? Move o n Rip Van Winkle.

It is quite interesting to note that conspicuously absent on Nana's itinerary in the their own press release: Akufo-Addo Tours North America" is the famous Whitaker Group Luncheon at Washington on the 4th of June 2008. My guess is that this this required discretion as they were fully aware of the legal consequences of the act. It broke both the laws of the US and of Ghana at the same time! The reason why it was worth the risk is your guess as well as mine. Here is what Dr. Arthur Kennedy, the Communications Director of the Akufo Addo decribed the people they gathered in that room on the fateful day, as was "made up of people with substantial investments in Ghana and also of others who have an interest in investing in Ghana." (See Rejoinder to Enquirer Story On Akufo-Addo's Trip My own guess is that it is because there were staggering sums involved to finance the on-going political campaign. They simply chose to break the law in a most clandestine way possible. So when the scandal emerged, it took them by surprise. After their own responses raised more questions than answers, they needed a diversionary tactic.

A Bikini Gambit ?
A bikini gambit is what I use to describe a political manouvre that is planned and executed as an urgent intervention to suffocate a growing scandal through eye-cathing headlines which often rhyme with the scandal or carry the same name. The phrase was created when the US Atomic Test in the Marshal Islands celeberated the 60th anniversary of the test and a few weeks after bikini as we also know it, celebrated its 60th anniversary. The fact that the indegenous people of Bikini who were made homeless and are yet to be compensated sixty years on, and all the horrors behind the test, vanished from the public view, with the only bikini that matters is the bikini you and I care about, gave it that name.

Seeing that Whitaker rhymes with Tsikata, the bikini gambit suspicion became strong especially after reading Mr. Johnson's posting. Perhaps the only real reason why Mr. Tsikata went to jail was because his name rhymes with Whitaker! See how his imprisonment successfully suffocated this dangerous scandal. It would have been a perfect scam if you had not so stupidly thrown the game away with your calls on me to sing a song for Tsatsu and not Rosa!

I recently have also had the occassion to make the following comment on this indefatigable fighter of Akan supremacy in Ghanaian politics:

This silly account you give about the Prudential is not our style! Did you hear Kwesi ever mentioning that? We have enough cases of corruption supported by competent bodies such as the Auditor-General than to waist our time inventing stories!

When Rosa and Akufo Addo are investigated for the fund raising scandal which YOU tried to divert my personal attention on the Whitaker scandal and to focus on the Tsikata imprisonment. This was a fatal mistake because it gave the Whitaker scandal the ability to resurrect, once it is proven that Tsikata was hastily sentenced at the time the scandal begun making the rounds!

Now the famous words:
Compose asong for Tsatsu, and not Rosa!
Posted By: Johnson , 6/18/2008 6:58:08 PM
Its just so ironic that your argument will fall so flat with the disgraceful imprisonment of the Ghanaian socialist icon, Tsatsu Tsikata. He sold Saltpond Oil drills. He assembled the socialist intelligentsia at GNPC to cash in on their absolute power in Tema.

Whilst your protege was selling oil drills to his friends in Michigan, and diverting huge sums of Ghana money into non-existing Valley farms, Rosa Whitaker was bringing investors for the same purpose - to explore oil for Ghana. You might not believe in God, despite your father being a Prophet. This is kharma. Tsatsu, your hero stole the monies earmarked for Oil Exploitation, and Rosa has struck the black gold. what do you want? Valley Farms or Whitaker Action Ventures?

And so, Dear Mr Ali, stop your painfully sad methodist hymns for more exciting Awoyo songs. Tsatsu or Rosa? Sing. Sing to your own soukls and leave the great Ahoofe to bask, little mind. And what do you want my real name and not a pseudonym. For what? What is in a name, Mr name dropper? Friend of Kwesi Prat, the prat of prats.

I was so much taken aback! I was a little angry at the way the NPP kept raising the murders of the three high court judges and a retired army officer to literally justify their own murders like that of the Ya Naa and forty of his elders, but this attempt to link Tsatsu to a scandal and kill it was too much! I tried to reduce the impact of his riposte by pointing out that I was not a sympathiser of the PNDC, and showing more interest in the Whitaker scandal than the Tsikata jailing and to resist the diversionary escape. It was too late.

Re; Compose a song for Tsatsu, and not Rosa!
Posted By: Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah , 6/18/2008 8:44:01 PM

Ok, Dr. Ahoofe, this is a democracy, use whatever name you want. Let's go back to the issue at hand. I want to begin with AGOA. Do you have something nice to say about that?

Please, you must know that I was never, at any point in my life associated with the PNDC nor the NDC, apart from opposing them. I even teamed up with people like Prof Adu Boahene, Mr. Ray Kakraba Quashie, Mr. B. J. Da Rocha, Nana Akufo Addo, Arthur K, Dan Botwe, Joe Baidoo Ansah, Kweku Paintsil, and heavens know who else might be familiar to you in the NPP! So it is a bit contrived to ask a song from me for Tsatsu. Whilst I think that you guys are even stealing more than what you are accusing the NDC of, I have no tears for any corrupt individual who abuses his office. I only feel sad for his immediate family, that is just human.

But when I think of children going to sleep without food, the issue of who goes to jail or who does not go depends on the judgement of the "reasonable man". He says Tsatsu must go today. If I were you I wouldn't rush with sing-songs!

Someone said somewhere that the only thing we know to do in the CPP is to sing. Well, I didn't know about that! The first time I heard a corruption of this hymn, I was a very young boy! It was sang by the Busia-Danquah gang.

It was in 1966! They were singing after the CIA sponsored coup d'etat which removed Kwame Nkrumah from power. They were singing with glee in the streets that Kwame Nkrumah had stolen ALL the money Ghana had to build a house in Cairo for his wife Fathia. I think it was something like this:

Owudzifo Kwame Nkrumah
W'ewia Ghana sika nyinaa,
Odze ekesi dan wo Cairo,
Ama ne yer Fathia!
As the good Lord lives, they shall fall on their own sword!!!!

You see, that is the only reason why I am just trying to do with you what they do with the proverbial cat when it does it at a wrong place! I am just trying to grab you by the neck and put your nose into something that must be more than very familiar to you! Not Tsatsu's nose, yours!

In the next articles we shall be looking at:
The end of a scandal: "Compose a song for Tsatsu, and not Rosa !" Part Two: A Judge In A Hurry!

The end of a scandal: "Compose a song for Tsatsu, and not Rosa !" Part Three: A Chronology of Key Events.