Editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, has dismissed claims by top members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that leaked portions of the Prof Kwesi Botchwey Committee report is fake.
Kweku Baako who claims to have pictorial copies of the report, which was sent to him by a member of the NDC, said he compared those portions to what is being circulated in the media and it is exact.
Therefore, the NDC cannot say that the leaked report – an executive summary of the entire report – is fake.
“From my own sources, we all have friends, the NDC is not made up of ghosts, but of human beings, some of whom are my friends so I decided to track what Daily Guide [newspaper] and Joy FM have been putting out and to seek some confirmation from my NDC sources and I can tell you honestly that what you are holding is not fake,” he told host of Joy News’ news analysis programme, Newsfile, Samson Lardy Anyenini on Saturday.
He added that “The portions that I was holding were photographed in the NDC’s own outfit and transmitted to me, so I decided to compare what had been sent to me and it is correct; hundred percent. I have done my own small research and what you are holding is authentic.”
Many bigwigs in the NDC have described the leaked report as fake.
The NDC Member of Parliament for Tamale Central who was on the same programme had said it was impossible for Prof Kwesi Botchwey who chaired the fact-finding committee, to write some of the things he his quoted has having written in the report.
He said the report and its contents are only meant for the NDC and that the real details are being worked on for the betterment of the party and “the NDC will stand the test of time.”
Mr Baako, is not surprised that the NDC is dismissing the leaked report.
The veteran journalist, however, believes dismissing the reports by mouth will not help the situation.
“You see, when the NDC decided to hold a press conference to tell us that they have finished the job and to display a copy of the report, they whet our appetite and when you do so the media becomes curious and decided to search. If the report will not go to the media, the media will go to the report.
“If they insist what you are holding is fake, the only way to cure that mischief is to produce the original, the authentic, the genuine article so that we will all realise that what you are holding is fake,” he added.
For him, the NDC’s position on the leaked report is a reflection of the power play in the NDC particularly when they have opened the floodgates for competition earlier than they should.
“My copies were photographed and transmitted to me. More are coming, indeed, very soon, that whole report that they are hiding in a rat hole will emerge, the whole 455 report.
“Ordinarily it should not be a big deal, but when you go out and tell a journalist that what they are publishing is fake, the challenge is yours.”