<<Print>>

It has now been established that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is sponsoring activities of the United Front Party (UFP), a Kumasi-based political party formed in 2010. Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that the NDC sponsored the national delegates� congress of the UFP, which was held in Kumasi in 2011 at the cost of GH�150,000. At the said congress, which was held at the Jubilee Park and attended by delegates from various parts of the country, Akwasi Addae aka �Odike� and Nana Agyenim Boateng, popularly known as �Gyataba�, both businessmen, were elected flagbearer and national chairman respectively. The Kumasi-based party in recent times has turned it arsenal on the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). The UFP recently praised President Atta Mills for paying GHc58million to Alfred Woyome, a self-styled financier of the ruling party as judgment settlement and criticized the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for abrogating the contract. Reliable information available to DAILY GUIDE indicates that leading members of the UFP, who were members of the NPP, have been in close contact with a �big man� at the Osu Castle, the seat of government for financial support. Deep-throat sources pointed out that the money used to sponsor the congress, which saw the acclamation national executives and the flagbearer, was provided by �big man� at the Castle. DAILY GUIDE has learnt that the ruling party is determined to sponsor the activities of the UFP because the party believes that UFP, which is based in Kumasi, could negatively affect the fortunes of the NPP. The largest opposition party currently holds 36 out of the 39 parliamentary seats in the Ashanti region. The paper has gathered that the Mills administration will offer more funds to sponsor the activities of the UFP so that the party would be vibrant in the Ashanti region. Vehicles, posters, billboards, banners, radio and TV advertisements, DAILY GUIDE gathered, would be made available to the UFP when the electioneering campaign commences. The leadership of the UFP, as part of efforts to impress their paymasters, provided GHc5 and GHc10 and �T� shirts to people to attend the party�s first-ever national congress. The leadership of the UFP, as part of the sponsorship package, the paper learnt, has been tasked to release statements to defend government anytime an issue that affects its credibility comes up. In view of this, when majority of the public condemned the 2012 budget which was read in November last year by the Finance Minister because of the introduction of high taxes, the leadership of the party released a statement asking Ghanaians to welcome it. Again, in the wake of the on-going discussions on the Woyome saga, the leadership of the party, led by its national chairman, released a statement indicating that the Mills-led administration did nothing wrong by paying Ghc58million to Alfred Agbesi Woyome as judgment debt. The statement, which was widely circulated, noted that Ghanaians should question officials of the erstwhile NPP government because they caused the mess by abrogating Mr Woyome�s contract. The UFP chastised officials of the previous NPP administration for refusing to appear before the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO). The leadership of the party has attended various radio programmes in Kumasi to criticize the NPP. Responding to the issue in an interview, the national chairman of the party, said UFP was not being funded by the NDC. Nana Agyenime Boateng aka �Gyataba� denied the accusations, stressing that the national congress of the party was funded by the flagbearer, national chairman and friends in the Diaspora. Though he confirmed that the party would receive logistics ahead of the campaign, he flatly denied that the NDC would provide logistics to the party. He said they praised the 2012 budget and asked Ghanaians to welcome it because they realized that the budget was geared towards job and wealth creation which are the cardinal principles of the UFP. The national chairman pointed out that they waded into the Woyome saga because the former administration was to be blamed for the lost of GHc58million to Mr Woyome. Stressing that the UFP would win the 2012 polls, Gyataba noted that they would praise the NPP if it does anything good. Morgan Owusu, Kumasi