NPP Deputy National Communications Ernest Owusu-Bempah
The Deputy National Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ernest Owusu-Bempah, has disclosed that he strategically brought up the Air Bus scandal when Ghanaians were complaining about the hardship in the economy.
He indicated that bringing up the Air Bus scandal helped shift the attention of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to himself and not the economic challenges in the country.
Owusu-Bempeh made this disclosure during a panel discussion on Okay FM, Monday, December 23, 2024, as he was making the point that strategy is important in winning elections.
He asserted that the NPP lost the 2024 presidential election because strategists like himself were ignored, and this was one of the reasons the party lost the election.
“Some of us were sidelined in the whole campaign operations. I was just following the bandwagon because I’m a national executive. But I wasn’t assigned any specific role to play. As someone in the Ashanti Region has about 2 million people who love and cherish me, you come here to campaign and you see me, the only national officer present; they don’t even mention my name. They don’t even give me the microphone to talk.
“I am the best political strategist – if you take all the young men in this country, I’m one of the best political strategists in this country… (sic) adopt a strategy to save a whole political party from a whole mess, when the economy was bashing the whole government. I’m saying this on record. Ghanaians were complaining that they were hungry; nobody was listening to us. Right there I resurrected the Airbus scandal, strategically,” he said.
He added, “I’m just trying to tell you that strategy is very key in politics. Then the whole NDC machinery is after me, only one person… You see, as a political party, you need to be strategic. “
The NPP deputy communications officer said that some of the people who led the NPP campaign thought that debating the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, would make the NPP win the election.
“You are campaigning in an election, and you think it’s all about bantering Sammy Gyamfi on radio and TV will win you an election. You’ll be making a terrible mistake.”
He also said that about six months before the election he tried communicating to the leadership of the party about the apathy in the party’s stronghold, the Ashanti Region, but nobody was listening to him.
He said that, in his capacity as deputy communication director of the party, he called some leaders of the party in the Ashanti Region, but for almost a month his calls were not responded to.
About the Airbus Scandal:
Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, was alleged to have paid bribes in Ghana when it sold three military aircraft.
The aerospace multinational admitted hiring the brother of a top elected Ghanaian official as its consultant for the pitch to sell the aircraft to the country.
Also, Airbus confessed to paying the said consultant through a third party when its Compliance Unit raised red flags about the close relationship between the consultant and the top elected official, who was a key decision-maker in the purchase of the military aircraft.
Former President John Dramani Mahama was one of the government officials implicated in the scandal, with the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, alleging that the “Government Official One” label in the scandal referred to the former president.
Amidu, in an epistle while in office as Special Prosecutor, revealed how John Mahama allegedly used his office to guarantee a Ghanaian passport for his brother Samuel Adam Mahama.
Martin Amidu said, “Amongst other reasons for the letter to the said Ministry, Samuel Adam Mahama’s elder brother of full blood, who without a doubt and the evidence available to this Office answers to the description of the elected Government Official 1, allegedly granted a denial interview to the Daily Graphic, which published the same on June 20, 2020, fortunately containing suspected admissions that he is the elected Government Official 1 referred to in the UK judgement.
“Serving appointees of this government have been unable to obtain the voice recording of this interview to enable the Office to confront the former president with his own admissions in the interview as answering to the description of the brother of Samuel Adam Mahama as Intermediary 5.”
John Mahama, however, denied the allegations and challenged Amidu, who was in office at the time, to prosecute him if he was indeed the said Government Official One.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor, under the leadership of Kissi Agyebeng, subsequently cleared Mahama of any wrongdoing.
Watch his remarks in the video below:
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