Renowned media personality Samuel Atta-Mensah, popularly known as Sammens, has slammed Ghanaian political parties, accusing them of enriching foreigners while sidelining loyal members who worked to bring them to power.
His comments come in the wake of the arrest of Bernard Antwi Boasiako, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.
He was picked up by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday, May 27, and later transferred to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
Despite being granted bail on Wednesday, May 28, Wontumi remains in custody due to what the party officials, have described as stringent and punitive bail conditions.
Wontumi was given a GHS 50 million bond with two sureties owning properties of equivalent value.
On Thursday, May 29, Minority Members of Parliament marched from Parliament to the EOCO headquarters in protest, demanding Wontumi’s immediate release.
Dressed in symbolic red and black attire, the MPs blocked the agency’s entrance and vowed to remain overnight in solidarity.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who led the demonstration, announced that NPP MPs would boycott parliamentary proceedings until Wontumi is released, describing the bail terms as excessive and politically motivated.
Meanwhile, as of May 29, the former Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong has offered to act as a surety in a bid to help secure Wontumi’s release.
Reacting to that in an interview, Sammens questioned the financial priorities of political parties, particularly the NPP.
He expressed concern over the apparent lack of internal support for Wontumi, noting that only Kennedy Agyapong appears to be stepping up in the party’s time of need.
Sammens accused successive governments of favouring foreign nationals over grassroots supporters.
He urged the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to take a hard look at how they reward loyalty within their ranks, warning that failure to do so could deepen internal divisions and erode trust.
He said, “…Watching the space, I asked myself the question that how come suddenly any time there’s a request for the bond, it’s only Kennedy Japan who shows up? So that’s eight years of the NPP, it was only Kennedy Japan who made money out of the NPP? What are we talking about? And NDC should be learning from this. When you have power, you enrich foreigners. You go to the ministries, you see some ‘mole mole’ people from some countries, they are there taking big money. You enrich people who did not sweat for their party to come into power. Today, they are looking for Bail, it is only Kennedy Japan who will carry his things and go there.”
“Maybe there are things happening that we don’t know, that’s why I started by saying that I’m talking from the media point of view. And clearly, it is looking impossible to raise this 50 million cedis. Where are the businessmen? Those who are getting their fat contracts, energy contracts and all those things, where are they? They should call them, party, go and sit down, call all the ministers, the people that were enraged. And I’m not talking about illegitimately, legitimately, go and look for them.”
