Cecilia and Sammy, in the ‘Politics of Attack But Defend’

In politics, there is this theory of ‘Attack but Defend’ which goes like this, “Condemn everything your opponents does, however when it gets to your turn, do the same things and come out to defend yourself.” This happens in Ghana.

In 2008, Hon. Adamu Daramani Sakande of the NPP MP, filed to contest the Bawku Central while he held dual citizenship. He went to win the seat.  The NDC made a whole lot of noise about this and condemned him. He ended up in court and was found guilty of perjury and forgery and jailed in 2012.

In 2020 General Elections, Hon Gyekye Quayson of the NDC, also filed to contest the Assin North seat while he held dual citizenship. He won the seat, but was taken to court on charges of perjury and forgery. The NDC fought hard to make sure that he was not convicted. To members of the NDC, Gyekye Quayson committed no offence.

Looking at both cases the NDC would say, Gyekye’s letter, denouncing his citizenship of Canada came before the elections. But in truth the act of perjury occurred while he was filing his papers to be considered to contest the elections. At that time, he was still a dual citizen.

Then in 2023, Hon. Cecilia Dapaah reported that some members of her household staff had stolen her money which run into millions of hard currencies. All hell broke loose in Ghana as the then opposition NDC, made it clear that the minister was corrupt and must be taken to court and jailed. The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) dragged her in the mud and Sammy Gyamfi of the NDC said if Cecilia Dapaah could not reveal the source of the money, it meant she was into money laundering.

Then only recently, this same Sammy Gyamfi, who is the acting CEO of GoldBod, the sole gold dealer in the country, was caught on camera dishing out hundreds of hard currencies to the famous Agraada. Less than five months of his appointment, Sammy Gyamfi is driving around with his vehicles full of dollars. And with all this, Sammy has still not been invited by the OSP. Hmmm……!

What perception will the public have? And instead of coming out to say something reasonable, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is accusing the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) of exploiting the incident for political gain. What about the NDC, in the Cecila Dapaah’s case? This is certainly the political theory of Attack but Defend, in practice.

For if this had been an NPP government appointee, driving around with a car full of hard currencies, what would the NDC tell Ghanaians?

I am more concern about the perception that the public will have about Sammy Gyamfi in particular and all appointees in general. If a government official could be called corrupt for keeping dollars in her house, then the one driving around with dollars in his car must have bank-safes full of dollars at home.

It was not surprising that Ernest Owusu Bempah came out to defend the GoldBod, acting CEO. These days, he is strongly making known his desire to go back home, to the NDC.

His defense of Sammy Gyamfi, saying that he is a very wealthy young man who dishes money around is very hollow. Why did he not come to defend Cecilia Dapaah, whose husband is known to be a very wealthy architect?

Ernest Owusu Bempah is also claiming that he knows an NPP member who gave someone $50,000.00, and so? What is its relevance in this matter if he could not name that person? And by the way, it seems he was the only person who saw that transaction going on.

It is a very big shame for the NPP deputy communication director to come on air to defend Sammy Gyamfi, when the national office of the party came out supporting a petition against Sammy Gyamfi.

I am not in any way condemning Sammy as corrupt, for my principles will not guide me on that path until there is evidence. But in my humble opinion, Sammy misconducted himself. Is he saying he did not have cedis on him? And if he did not, then was he using dollars, to purchase things on the way? If that is the case, then what impact will this be on our economy? As a government appointee, one’s code of conduct must be above board.

A deputy minister in Kufuor’s administration, Hon Charles Bintin, allowed someone to deposit GH¢100,000.00, in his personal account, probably for safekeeping and he got the sack.

Hon Victoria Hammah of the NDC, then deputy minister of communication, once said if she could make $1 million, she would quit politics. She was sacked for this statement, meanwhile nothing suggested she was desiring to be corrupt.

The perception of the public messed things up for Charles and Victoria. So, to me, none of the above, Cecilia, Sammy, Charles and Victoria committed any crime. Their conducts, however, raises questions in the public domain and the court of public opinion, matters here.

But what is most important to our democracy is for all political parties to be very principled and never defend for themselves, what they will condemn others for. So, if Sammy Gyamfi is innocent then Cecilia Dapaah is also innocent.

Hon. Daniel Dugan

Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle

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