FLASHBACK ‘Jewel Ackah in a handshake with former President Mahama.
GHANAIAN HIGHLIFE musician and well-known supporter of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jewel Ackah, says he has been completely neglected by the party (NDC).
He made the disclosure in an interview with Kofi TV recently, lamenting his frustrations about the situation.
Some Ghanaian musicians and movie stars are noted for supporting politicians and political parties, especially during election years. Some of them end up being terribly dumped later by such politicians and parties.
Ackah, it would be recalled, made it emphatically known about two years ago that he had no regrets whatsoever, in supporting former President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC.
The veteran singer composed a popular campaign song for the NDC entitled, “Arise Arise,” prior to Jerry John Rawlings becoming president and also during the electioneering campaign of former President John Evans Atta Mills – which was later adopted as the party’s anthem.
However, Mr. Ackah has accused the new hierarchy of the party of woefully abandoning him.
According to him, the party he toiled for has made it a point to ignore him as nothing appealing seems to be coming to him from the higher ranks of the party.
Speaking of his hit NDC song, he said, “NDC does not give money; they neglected me even in power. After that composition I became a typical NDC. I did the song for free.”
Jewel Ackah said if he had composed the song for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he would have received public support; but because he mounted the NDC campaign platform, his musical career suddenly took a nosedive.
Sensational highlife musician, Lucky Mensah, also suffered the same fate after supporting the NDC in the 2008 election. He took his destiny into his own hands, jumping out of the NDC train and campaigning for the NPP in the run-up to the 2016 general election, to regain public acceptability.
Zylonfon Media
However, it appears Mr. Ackah is now in the good books of Zylonfon Media, as videos circulating on social media suggest that the singer received $10,000 from Nana Appiah Mensah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zylonfon Media, when the latter heard about the former’s deteriorating health.
Mr. Ackah is said to be battling stroke for years now, but has not received any significant help from the NDC.
Opportunist
Meanwhile, some NDC members and supporters are accusing him (Ackah) of being an opportunist, saying that his utterances depict an ungrateful being.
BY Melvin Tarlue