Former Minister for Communication, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah has refuted the claim by Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi in his latest book, “Working with Rawlings” that he was among a group of young politicians engaged and groomed by prof. Ahwoi and others to defend former President John Evans Atta Mills against attacks of former President Jerry John Rawlings.
Dr. Omane Boamah stated that the claim by Prof. Ahwoi in his book is “wholly and completely inaccurate and untrue.”
Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi on July 31, 2020 launched a book titled “Working with Rawlings” in which he detailed among others that the founder of NDC had fallen out with then president Mills and constantly attacked Prof. Mills.
According to him, Mr. Rawlings’ incessant attacks on the then president compelled him to decide to resign. He said it took him and three others more than four hours to convince Prof. Mills to rescind his decision to resign as president of Ghana.
In order to contain the attacks on the president, Prof. Ahwoi stated that he and some other party members engaged and groomed a group of young politicians purposely to take on Rawlings whenever he attacked the late president Mills.
The group of young politicians who Rawlings christened “Babies with sharp teeth” he stated included Dr. Omane Boamah, Samuel Okudzeto Blakwa and Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
But in a statement on Wednesday August 5, 2020, Dr. Omane Boamah dismissed the claim stating “As a young man and politician with core convictions, I was never engaged nor could I have allowed myself to be used by anyone to talk back at former president Rawlings.”
He stressed that the assertion by the former Local Government and Rural Development minister that his defense of the late president Mills was part of deliberate attempts to silence former president Rawlings is “irksome” to him and does not reflect his personality as “a politician of conviction and not of convenience.”
Dr. Omane Boamah explained that his defense of former president Mills against the unwarranted attacks by the founder of NDC was “borne of my respect and appreciation of the personality of the late president Mills – the Asomdwehene, his pureness of heart and other sterling and unique qualities that he possessed to a fault.”
Similarly, Samuel Okudzeto Blakwa and Felix Kwakye Ofosu have also issued two different statements dismissing the claim.
Mr. Okudzeto while denying the claim blamed a section of the media and the public for misinterpreting the content of the book.
On his part, Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu stated “while acknowledging that the media reports are at best an exaggeration of portions of a book authored by the highly respected Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi, I wish to place on record that at no point have I been part of any plot, recruitment exercise or strategy to ‘talk back’ at President Rawlings.”
