It appears there is no love lost between President Akufo Addo’s controversial cousin Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and some powerful people within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
According to maverick musician and social commentator, Kwame Asare Obeng “A Plus” said in one of his recent livestreams on social media that Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, a trusted advisor to President Akufo Addo personally expressed his suspicion that some important people in the NPP do not like him.
Perhaps his powerful role in the administration of his cousin and the roles he had played in many controversial policies and scandals may have earned him the hatred. Gabby is unofficially described as Ghana’s de-facto “Prime Minister”, given the power he reportedly wields over resident Akufo Addo.
Critics in the party have expressed disgust at the inexplicable manner to which Gabby secured such power in the administration. He is reportedly so powerful that he could override decisions by Cabinet Ministers. This is said to be one of the reasons why he has attracted hate towards his person from within the governing party.
“ I know Gabby Asare Otchere Darko. He is a very nice person. Sometimes I wonder why he periodically becomes public enemy number one. In fact, he knows that people don’t like him. He told me personally in London that even NPP people hate him. It hurts me. But when you listen to him as an objective person, you’ll understand why he periodically wears the public enemy crown,” A-Plus stated.
Gabby has been fingered in many high-profile scandals in the NPP administration, including the infamous PDS scandal where a group of government cronies fraudulently cooked figures in an attempt to hijack the state electricity company, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Not long after the PDS scandal, Gabby’s hand was also found in the pie of the next biggest scandal in the administration-the Agyapa Royalties deal. The deal had used companies belonging to Gabby and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to “unconscionably” attempt to ambush Ghana’s gold royalties totally some US4200 annually in a perpetual deal involving a convoluted trail of faceless investors and tax havens.
The resigned Special Prosecutor, Martin ABK Amidu had done a corruption assessment evaluation of the deal and had concluded that it was a fraudulent deal that revealed how Ken Ofori-Atta, another close relative of the President, used a South African company to front for his personal company, Databank Financial Services in the deal.
Martin Amidu had resigned in disgust, citing an attempt by President Akufo Addo himself to arm-twist him to “shelve” the report. In his parting shot to the President, he described him as the “Mother Serpent of corruption”.