The overtures and intrigues by Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, one of the six Vice Chairmen (Chairperson?) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have placed him squarely in a quagmire, as party gurus express rage and displeasure at his “divisionist’ and “disrespectful” attitude for party structures.
Documents at the custody of The New Free Press have abundantly exposed how Dr Spio-Garbrah has been going about, soliciting for funds and computers for NDC offices in various parts of the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
A corresponding letter from the office of Dr Spio-Garbrah, dated January 20, 2010, title, “Appeal For Computers For NDC Offices,” and signed by him read in part, “I therefore appeal to you for a donation of a new or refurbished computers, desktops, laptops, printers, photocopiers, fax machines, and related accessories which could be used to equip offices of the NDC, in order to make them more efficient.”
Checks conducted by this paper have established that this “noble ideas” were not discussed with the party Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei, who, sources say, “is very peeved and outraged by this development.” The party’s General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, according to sources, is also not aware of this move by the Vice Chairman.
Party sources have informed this reporter that at the first meeting of the newly elected NDC executives, Dr Spio Garbrah suggested that he will be put in charge of the overseas branches of the party, an idea which was garbaged by other party heavyweight present at the meeting. Whilst some analysts argue that this move by Dr Spio-Garbrah is consistent with his earlier interest in the position of the Foreign Affairs Minister, others aver that his dream of being the presidential candidate of the party is the driving force behind this move.
According to party sources, the phenomenon has seriously raised eyebrows in many quarters and has ruffled feathers in the NDC top hierarchy. “What Spio wants to achieve is division in the NDC.
Clearly, he has arrogated to himself, the position of the party Chairman. If he really loves the party, this idea would have been discussed with the party top officials for their inputs before embarking on it,” a party guru told this reporter. When this reporter contacted a source at Dr Spio-Garbrah’s UK office, it confirmed the story and told the Free Press, one did not have to contact the party Chairman before offering assistance to NDC. “When in 2008, Dr Spio-Garbrah donated $10,000 to the party, did he have to consult the party Chairman?” the source asked rhetorically.
The source directed this reporter to contact a certain Mohammed Nasiru for more details. When contacted, Mohammed explained that Dr Spio-Garbrah was only fulfilling one of his campaign promises and quickly dismissed the assertion that he was arrogating to himself the position of the party Chairman or nursing any presidential ambition.
According to him, Dr Spio-Garbrah did not sign the purported letter as the party Chairman, but as a Vice Chairman of the NDC.
Mohammed Nasiru further explained that one of the commitments Dr Spio-Garbrah made to delegates prior to the voting was to assist the various branch, constituency and regional offices of the party with items like computers, printers, fax machine, and the like.
According to him, the appeal did not even include money, but ICT accessories and laptops, etcetera. The letter, a copy of which is in the hands of this paper ended, “You may kindly call me on my Ghana number… or UK number… if you would like us to meet or to have a prior conversation.
Source: Free Press/Ghana
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