Samuel Ofosu Ampofo
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has began unfurling a series of covert and overt operations to confine the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the government to a consistent defensive mode.
Tiring the government out as they respond to all the flimsy and reckless charges fits into the opposition’s project. Ofosu Ampofo and Haruna Iddrisu have given Ghanaians more than a glimpse into the political project.
The party’s overwhelming mastery in clandestine operations as resonated in Ofosu Ampofo’s leaked audio and before that former President John Mahama’s boastful revolution-pedigree of the NDC are evidential of the scheme.
Like coordinated explosions, the fuses in the hands of insurgents, there has not been a letup in the spate of charges and exaggerations all of them coming in the aftermath of the leaked Ofosu Ampofo and Haruna Iddrisu audio recordings. They are mind-boggling and solely intended in the short-run to veneer the negative fallouts from the Ampofo leaks.
A few days ago, a documentary made a landfall as it were, and threatened to muffle the audio leakage. It appeared to have gained the required momentum until the government information machinery and others hit the underbelly of this particular media stunt, with cogent and convincing arguments. For those who championed it, they could only flee like mongrels – their tails between their hind legs, totally crestfallen.
For those of them in Parliament, their call for the resignation of the President was nothing but a source of derision. Were resignations of President that easy and triggered by the flimsiest of faux pas, former President Mahama would not have gone past his first year as President.
Throwing a militia story into the works was a smart one and could not have come at a better time when the opposition is on the back foot. It was a farcical move, the objective unambiguous.
The NPP is too smart to allow the ostensible training of a paramilitary squad in a state structure as the documentary and its disciples sought to have Ghanaians believe, incredulous as it sounded. Come on, let us be smart and think outside the box. We are allowing ourselves to be used in this funny mind game the opposition is subjecting us to.
The dust generated by the Ofosu Ampofo leaked audio recording has not yet settled not even with the release of the so-called militia training machination.
The correlation between it and the matters arising in the days following is interesting. It is about a complex and sometimes deceptive world of politics being played out by a bunch of treacherous elements.
Enter an ex-convict who threatened a Chief Justice but whose criminality was overlooked by a former President who granted him a pardon.
Salifu Maase aka Mugabe has regained his lost voice after living in the Nsawam Prison as an inmate. As a pawn in the dirty political game of the NDC, he has started attacking President Akufo-Addo.
He has raised a false alarm about an NPP’s plan to kill Manasseh Azure claiming that he has been possessed by the Holy Spirit. This adds to others to pressure the NPP and the government as pointed out earlier.
Having the NDC as political neighbours requires a lot of finesse and dexterity: they are cunning and would do everything to gain electoral leverage including engaging ex-convicts to spew garbage.