The last week two weeks, have witnessed dirty boardroom wrangling between the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Freddie Blay, a former New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman and current Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), with the two men getting at each other’s throat either covertly or overtly.
Daily Guide, a private newspaper owned by Mr Blay, was last week forced to retract a publication titled “Napo Celebrates Birthday in Monaco.” After seeking to paint the Energy Minister as living above his means in a period of economic crisis under the Akufo-Addo government, the paper proceeded to apologize.
The bad blood between the two appointees of the Akufo-Addo government, started over what the Energy Minister calls the Board Chairman’s “scandalous” attempt to sell GNPC’s shares held by Jubilee Holdings Limited (JOHL) in the Cayman Islands valued at US$164.8 million as of 2021.
Dr Opoku Prempeh, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South later reported Mr Blay to the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, saying his attempt to sell 50percent share of JOHL to Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA), was in direct contravention of the Government’s express directives on the subject matter.
The matter led to an emergency board meeting which was stormed by the minister, who was said to have raised his voice at Mr Blay for disregarding his directives. The meeting held on the minister’s birthday, ended abruptly.
The revelation, later led to a press conference by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) who demanded Mr Blay’s dismissal as the GNPC board chairman accusing him of bad corporate governance in the use of GNPC’S letterheads to correspond with the PetroSA about the sale of the shares, despite the Energy Minister’s stern warning.
The GNPC Board Chairman, age 72, in response strategically avoided his supervisory minister, while threatening to rather sue the 29 CSOs who called for his dismissal over the attempted sale of the share to PetroSA.
In his second public statement after the scandal first reported by The Herald, he sought to question the intellectual capacity of the CSOs on Ghana’s Companies Act 2019 (Act 992) and transfer of shares, and directed them to Google search the requirement of the law, before jumping into conclusion on what he was doing with PetroSA.
“Ghana is a country of law, and there are laws and procedures governing the sale and transfer of shares, under Ghana’s Companies Act 2019 (Act 992), even for private companies. I encourage all my accusers, and the public to Google “what is the procedure for share transfers in Ghana”, educate themselves, and draw their own conclusions on the veracity or duplicity of the allegations. Shares of a company are not a pack of cigarettes anyone, and for that matter, the Chairman of GNPC can keep in his or her pocket and vend by the street!” he said in a statement dated 25 May, 2023.
But shortly after this, his newspaper; Daily Guide, claimed that the Energy Minister had flown to Monaco for his 55th birthday party, forcing a reaction from a lawyer for the minister by name Nana Agyei Baffour.
The legal practitioner, in a letter dated June 1, 2023 denied the report, demanded an apology and retraction of the false allegations made against the Minister failure for which legal remedies were going to be instituted against the media house.
Before the lawyer’s statement, a spokesperson for the same Minister, had also in a statement debunked the story, describing it as unintelligent and a complete fabrication.
Daily Guide in a publication on page 12 of its June 2, 2023 edition, retracted and apologized to the Minister.
“Upon a careful examination, we discovered that our initial full report contained factual inaccuracies,” the statement said, adding “We appreciate the need for accuracy and as such extend our apologies for the earlier misreport”.
“We hereby retract the story and apologize for any inconvenience the publication might have caused,” it concluded.
Kofi Abrefa Afena, a spokesperson for the Energy Minister, had denied claims that the minister celebrated his 55th birthday in Monaco.
In a press release, Kofi Abrefa Afena, had insisted that the said media publication was “a total fabrication” and that Dr. Prempeh was in Ghana on his birthday.
“On the 23rd of May, 2023 which marked the 55th birthday of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, he was in Ghana and attended a meeting of the Economic Management Team (EMT),” the statement said.
“On the 23rd of May, 2023 which marked the 55th birthday of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, he was in Ghana and attended a meeting of the Economic Management Team (EMT),” the statement said.
“On the same day, 23rd May, Dr. Prempeh also attended a Board meeting of the governing Board of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).”
The Energy Minister’s spokesperson said that on the day after his birthday, Dr Prempeh recorded an appreciation message to his well-wishers and then spent the rest of the day in his office carrying out his routine official duties.
“Dr Prempeh after seeking the necessary approval from the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, travelled abroad on KLM to Athens for a brief holiday,” Kofi Abrefa Afena added in the statement.
“The general public is kindly asked to completely disregard the publication, which is a total affront to the concept of believability quotient in journalism.”
Meanwhile, a journalist close to the Energy Minister has said that people in the NPP hate Dr. Opoku Prempeh, because of his immense popularity in the ruling political party.
Wontumi Radio and Movement TV’s Kwaku Dawuro, who spilled the beans, said Napo’s unique kindness has made him the toast of NPP members and supporters across the country.
According to him, scores of NPP members love Napo because he is accessible, extremely kind, and always available to offer a helping hand to his party members and even non-NPP members. However, Kwaku Dawuro said Napo’s ever increasing popularity in the NPP seems to be creating discomfort for someone ‘wicked’ people in the party, who have developed strong hatred for him without reason.
“Napo is loved by most of the NPP members because of his kindness. There are reports of Napo assisting party people who approach him for support in times of need. “This kind nature of Napo has made him very popular in the party so some jealous people in the NPP, who hate him without justification, have started diabolical acts to pull him down but it won’t work.
“I haven’t met Napo in person before, but his amazing kindness and good works are all over the place, and we are all proud of him”, Kwaku Dawuro stated on his show on Movement TV.
Kwaku Dawuro said that aside from being kind-hearted and accessible, Napo has also marketed himself well with his outstanding performances in this current NPP administration. “Without Napo, there is no way that the NPP government could have implemented the free Senior High School (SHS) policy. He has also stopped the power crisis, popularly called ‘Dumsor’,” he remarked and praised Napo.
The top broadcast journalist said the opposition NDC are also afraid of Napo because he is bold and efficient, adding “the naysayers in the NPP should let Napo have his peace and sustain his good works for mother Ghana”.
