President John Mahama
AN UNCOMFORTABLE chain reaction has been set off as fresh allegations are emerging about alleged secrets omitted from the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of President John Dramani Mahama and his Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah?Arthur.
Pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) group, Patriotic Northern Youth (PNY) has dug up dirt about an apparent omission from President Mahama?s CV; the fact that he indeed attended a middle school in Tamale called Bishop Middle School in 1971 but left unceremoniously.
In a press statement released on Saturday, November 24, and signed by the group?s convener, Fredrick Tahiru, the PNY stated, ?Why is there no mention in the President?s official CV or even in his book, My First Coup d??tat, the fact that he attended Bishop Middle School? And, does he care to share with the world what big trouble he got into after sexually attacking a very popular girl in the school??
?We, the Patriotic Northern Youth, have also done our investigation on President John Dramani Mahama?s CV and want him to explain one omission to the nation,? the group challenged. ??He has classmates alive in Tamale today with whom he first attended the Bishop Middle School between 1970-1971. So at what point did he leave Achimota and where did he go immediately after leaving Achimota?
According to the pro-NPP youth group, ?The Patriotic Northern Youth is reliably informed, there are several witnesses to this, that between 1971 and 1972, three students were sacked from Bishop Middle School for various offences, including sexual assault and rape. Among the three names was a certain Dramani Mahama. What is the relationship, if any, between that Dramani Mahama and this Dramani Mahama who is now President John Dramani Mahama??
The group is unfazed by the magnitude of their allegation as it further questions, ?What is the reason for his failure to mention Bishop Middle School in his CV? What is he shy of??
The group?s expose is a direct response to a similar allegation slapped on the educational background of opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo by pro National Democratic Congress (NDC) group, Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP).
According t RAP, sometime in the past when Nana Addo was about 18 years old, he attended Oxford University in the UK, but in his CV, he left out that detail. RAP?s convener and a member of government?s communication team, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, last week threw a challenge to Nana Addo to come clean with details of why he left Oxford University.
Confirmation
Checks by DAILY GUIDE prove that the PNY assertion that President Mahama actually attended Bishop Middle School is indeed true. One classmate of the President, Bawa Baku Alhassan in Tamale, told this paper that President Mahama was indeed his classmate at Bishop Middle School.
Mr. Alhassan was unable to corroborate PNY?s reason over why his classmate (then called Dramani Mahama) left the school. He recalls that they were both in the school between 1970 and 1972, but they both did not complete Form Four (4) because they sat for the popular Common Entrance Examination, where he proceeded to Tamale Secondary School while his classmate went to Ghana Secondary School in Tamale.
But Fredrick Tahiru, in a telephone conversation with DAILY GUIDE on Sunday, stated unequivocally that there was more to President Mahama leaving the school. According to him, President Mahama was punished for sexual misconduct.
Tahiru said his group mounted an investigation where they got information from the school, from old school mates and from family members of the President. ?We are convinced that what we?ve seen and heard is truly what went on at Bishop Middle School,? Mr. Tahiru told DAILY GUIDE.
Old Mates on the Offensive
The brouhaha whipped up by RAP has received high-profile endorsement as Tsatsu Tsikata, one of the respected lawyers in Ghana and a senior member of the NDC waded into the controversy about Nana Addo?s decision to leave out Oxford University.
Tsatsu Tsikata, a classmate of Nana, last week on Asempa Fm explained that as a fresh student at Oxford in 1969, he heard that Nana Akufo-Addo had left the school under strange circumstances. He said there were rumours then that Nana Akufo-Addo was dismissed from the university but could neither deny nor confirm the rumours.
According to Mr. Tsikata, the manner in which the NPP flag bearer and his aides had dealt with the Oxford University question casts a slur on his [Nana Addo‘s] integrity.
Editor in Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako on Joy Fm?s current affairs programme, Newsfile on Saturday said he suspects the 2007/2008 allegations of the NDC that Nana Addo must have been sent away from Oxford because he was allegedly caught puffing Marijuana at age 18.
Amissah-Arthur?s share
The NPP has said it will not dignify the RAP group?s question with an answer, but Speaking on Newsfile Saturday, Kwabena Agyepong former Press Secretary to ex-President Kufuor, confirmed that Nana Akufo-Addo attended Oxford University but did not consider it necessary to state in his CV that he attended Oxford because he did not obtain any certificate from the school.
Mr. Agyepong pointed out those anomalies in Vice President Amissah-Arthur?s CV was the ?worse scenario in this case.?
He challenged the Vice President to come clean on his Masters? degree from the University of Ghana. On his official CV, the Vice President stated that he graduated with M.Sc from the University of Ghana in 1976, but Mr. Agyepong alleged that this was false because his name is not on the list of those who graduated with M.Sc that year.
BY: Raphael Ofori-Adeniran
