General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has revealed how he got his popular nickname ‘General Mosquito’.
The 63-year-old veteran politician said members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) gave him that name after he single-handedly fought against the nomination of a Minister during the first term of the Agyekum Kufuor-led regime.
According to him, though he was not the Minority Leader then, he was a close confidant of the Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin, and a thorn in the flesh of the Majority.
The nickname, he revealed, was strategically carved by the Majority side to ridicule him but it backfired as he graciously embraced the name.
“I was named General Mosquito by the NPP who thought that it was going to dampen my spirit but as a teacher, the best way to deal with nicknames was to adopt and adapt to them so I did just that.
“By the time we got to the apex of the debate, I was alone. I was one man against 199 MPs but I stood my ground, fought on, and got the guy disqualified and so they said I was a rebel leader.
“As a result, they tried to liken me to the then rebel leader in Sierra Leone known as General Mosquito because I rebelled against the whole Parliament.”