I Peddled Lies About Nana – Twum-Boafo

Kwadwo Twum-Boafo

After severally maligning Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – then presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – the immediate past Chief Executive of the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB), Kojo Twum-Boafo, is reported to have confessed that he concocted lies about him (Nana Addo).

He reportedly described all the disparaging remarks he made about now President Akufo-Addo as a strategy to help the National Democratic Congress (NDC) retain power.

The former CEO of GFZB is purported to have labelled President Akufo-Addo as a violent man who wanted to be president of this country at all cost.

Mr. Twum-Boafo is said to have uttered on radio programmes some vituperations like, “I will say it again that this country is on a precipice, that we have a violent thug, who wants to be president of this country at all cost. We have a man who absolutely has no campaign message, who is now begging to be voted for. Ghanaians should never make up their minds to vote for an unforgiving individual, causing all the mess in the country just for his personal interest to become the president of this land.

“I have faith in the Ghanaian people that they would never vote into power such a man who has on three occasions within his own party and twice from the Ghanaian people lost elections due to his lack of respect….”

However, on Wednesday, Twum-Boafo, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) hatchet man, speaking on GH One TV's current affairs programme, 'The State of Affairs,' was said to have indicated that those derogatory remarks were made just to defame the then NPP candidate.

“I don't want to go back to the history of Nana Addo. All the things I said about him were a strategy. I am proud of Nana Addo for a reason….he has suffered and tried very hard to be president.

“Four decades are not a joke. He needs to be given the chance to succeed. We need to give him the necessary support and respect to succeed. As I am talking to you, I am jobless,” Twum-Boafo said.

The former CEO explained that Nana Addo nursed a presidential ambition for over four decades, fought hard for it, in spite of all the odds and must be commended for his bravery.

Touching on the GH¢3.6 million bus branding saga, the former Free Zones Board boss said that the NDC could have avoided the branding, which the NPP blew out of proportion.

“The bus branding-gate could have been managed to deny the NPP a chance of blowing it like they did in the heat of the campaign,” he suggested.

He observed that the bus branding, as well as other internal party issues, possibly contributed to the massive defeat of the NDC.

In his post-mortem analysis of what perhaps caused the NDC and former President Mahama's embarrassing defeat, Mr Twum-Boafo said many of the party's executives also failed to tell him about (Mahama) the reality on the ground.

From Vincent Kubi, Tema