North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has denied being the person former President Rawlings referred to in his famous “babies with sharp teeth” jab.
He says the founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) did not mention any names when he made the statement, but some Ghanaians, out of sheer propaganda, chose to name persons they wanted that message to fit.
“We all know that our founder is very colourful, he had a way with words and all kinds of terminologies and jargons.
“The founder didn’t mention specific names. Again, propaganda; people decided to just select whoever they probably want to fit in that description but to be fair to the founder, he didn’t mention any specific name,” he objected.
According to the lawmaker, his job then as Deputy Minister of Communications was to defend the administration under which he served, the reason he sought to debunk every falsity that was associated with the government at the time, especially the President.
“My job as Deputy Minister for Information was to fiercely and convincingly defend the track record of the Mills-Mahama administration. That was my job and those were my matching orders and that was why I was engaged, to be a spokesperson and when you’re a spokesperson, and you’re convinced about how well Prof. Mills is, how blessing he is to our country, he was not guilty of the accusations that were being leveled against him and I had to defend his track record as all Ministers of Information and Deputy Ministers of Information do so I have no regrets at all for defending such a good man,” he told Keminni Amanor on Hot Issues on TV3 Sunday, February 25, 2024.
On August 30, 2012, the NDC founder, after becoming inundated with verbal onslaughts on his character and person, stated “it is said that we should not throw out the baby with the bath water, but what do we do when some of the babies in the tub are babies with hard teeth, biting and spewing some very horrible invective?”
“Should they not be lowered out with the dirty water?
“After all, one bad nut is all it takes to spoil the taste in your mouth,” Former President Rawlings said at the NDC’s special delegates’ congress in Kumasi.
Meanwhile, a founding member of the NDC, Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi, had said he sanctioned and commissioned the “babies with sharp teeth” to defend then Professor Mills who nearly resigned as President due to the attacks that were being unleashed at him.
Prof. Ahwoi said he and Totobi-Quakye commissioned the acid tongues, naming “Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, then Deputy Minister of Information; Kojo Twum Boafo, Executive Director of Ghana Free Zones Board, who hopped from one radio station to another; Castle boy Nii Lantey Vanderpuye; Peter Boamah Otokunor; and the late lddrisu Bature of NDC AI-Haj” rag tag as the persons they trained to attack anybody that criticised Prof. Mills unjustifiably.
