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“…I walked in and saw the National Organizer, John Boadu, and I asked him what was going on. He was holding a piece of paper and I snatched the paper out of his hands. It was the TRAINING CONTENTS and I was SHOCKED TO MY BONES at what I was reading.

“These People were out of their minds. They wanted to WIN THE ELECTION ON THE STREETS AND NOT AT THE BALLOT BOX. That’s the militancy I am talking about. I told them that I, Paul Afoko, as Chairman of the NPP would never allow them to take the party on that CRAZY ROUTE.

“In the presence of the two Serbians, I ADMONISHED OUR PARTY PEOPLE AND ASKED THEM TO LEAVE THE HOTEL IMMEDIATELY AND GO HOME”.

The above statement was/is attributed to Mr. Paul Afoko by the Africawatch Magazine in its April 2016 edition (page 40). The essence or thrust of Mr. Afoko’s statement was/is to the effect that the July 2014 ‘Strategic Workshop’ facilitated for “our party people” by the National Organizer of the party, John Boadu and allegedly financed by Ken Ofori – Atta, was aimed at preparing the participants to “WIN THE ELECTIONS ON THE STREETS AND NOT AT THE BALLOT BOX” as stipulated by Ghana’s 4th Republican Constitution!.

The New Crusading GUIDE in a series of publications has already provided pictorial and eye – witness testimonies to show that Mr. Afoko’s account as narrated in Africawatch was far from the truth.

We have provided pictorial proof of Mr. Afoko and Mr. Kwabena Agyepong being formally introduced to the gathering by Mr. John Boadu on the first day of the ‘Strategic Workshop’ which was held at the Vitara Hotel, Accra from July 7 to July 10,2014.(See The New Crusading GUIDE of May – 2016 – page 1&3)

Subsequently, we published the views / reactions of two participants of the ‘Strategic Workshop’ who debunked Mr. Afoko’s account. They were Mr. Kwame Appiah Kodua and Mr. Isaac Seidu, NPP Regional Organizers for Eastern Region and Upper West Region respectively.

The two gentlemen were categorical in their assertions that at no point did Mr. Afoko “admonished our party people to leave the hotel immediately and go home”, as he claimed in the Africawatch Magazine interview.

Rather, they contended that the then National Chairman encouraged them to take the program serious and even promised the organization many more training programs of that nature.

More and more participants in the ‘Strategic Workshop” have since contacted The New Crusading GUIDE seeking the opportunity to corroborate and vindicate the accounts of Mr. Appiah Kodua and Mr. Isaac Seidu.

(Stay tuned for the publication of their views/reactions in subsequent editions of this newspaper!).

Meanwhile, some critics of this newspaper and pro-Afoko fanatics and loyalists including some overseas-based academics, have publicly challenged the claim by our Editor-in-Chief, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, that there was nothing subversive or covert about the courses taught by the CANVAS Organization either in Ghana(July 2014) or elsewhere in the world.

Mr. Baako had indicated on Peace FM’s flagship program Kokrokoo that the courses are taught at some global tertiary institutions including Harvard. Apparently, this assertion got the goat of the Afoko fanatics and loyalists who claim that their checks at Harvard proved that Baako’s assertion was a LIE!

However, when contacted to clarify and elaborate on Baako’s assertion, a highly placed source at CANVAS confirmed the veracity of Baako’s assertion and directed the author to the website:https://esed.hks.harvard.edu/program/inm/overview.asps for further and better particulars which support Baako’s assertion.

 

“Harvard is a key proof of prominence; yes, our courses are taught at several most prominent world universities – such as NYU and Harvard. In fact any Ghanaian, regime, people included – may and should subscribe for a course on how to build effective movement for social justice”, the source emphasized.

“What we seek to impart and teach (knowledge) is out there for those who want to learn how to build effective social movements – either on our website or mentioning that authors of our courses have been credited by World Economic Forum in Davos or Foreign Policy Magazine as “TOP GLOBAL THINKERS”.

“In fact, the more you (and we) can prove that our course(s) is/are public and available to everybody, the more the accusation (i.e conspiracy theories/scare-mongering) “will look stupid”, added the source.

The Source underscored that “our full online course in how to build social movements that we run with HARVARD EXECUTIVE EDUCATION which is aimed at activists, academic and future decision makers wherever they are and however their struggle may be, smaller or large… It has been participated in by people from 19 different countries and runs regularly every October. It also has detailed overview of topics so what’s less “secret” and more legitimate than having attended a course that is available online and taught through Harvard.”

The Source emphasized that the transparency of the whole content of CANVAS’ training could or should be ascertained by assessing its online training programs and formats: (http://canvasopedia.org/projectcartoon-training)

“CANVAS’ courses on non – violent struggle are most transparent, absolutely mainstream, super interesting course whose every detail is available online. It is taught by most prestigious universities in the world and of course, the NPP as a group and other Ghanaians have taken it (and everybody involved in the struggle for social justice should). Authors of the course are among Global Economic Forum Young Global Leaders, and were even mentioned for Nobel Peace Prize”, articulated the source.

As to why some people like Afoko and Interior Minister, Prosper Bani peddled “conspiracy and scare – mongering theories” relative to their work and activities around the world including Ghana, our source underscored that “the reason they do this is to create ‘social distance’ between the people we engage and some potential supporters via creating some kind of ‘conspiracy narrative’ as though they are ‘puppets’ of foreign consultants for some dark goals. Once you understand what they want to achieve you may figure out what they want to do: two things, sensation and portraying of our engagement with the groups) as some kind of ‘secret hokus – pokus – revolutionary school’. So being transparent and straightforward to prevent that kind of mischief and propaganda angle is by far the best defence”

Please stay tuned for the publication of “the training contents” which Mr. Paul Afoko claimed shocked him to his bones and got his “blood boiling” and which according to him, showed that John Boadu and co. had opted to take “the party on that crazy route” of planning “to win the elections on the streets of Ghana and not at the ballot box”.

A ‘war of Attrition’ Unfolds……!