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General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has disclosed why he is popularly referred to as ‘General Mosquito.’
According to him, the nickname was bestowed on him by political rivals in the governing New Patriotic Party after he single-handedly masterminded an opposition to an NPP member nominated to become minister under former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He detailed that he persevered in his quest to have the ministerial nominee rejected despite overwhelming opposition from his other colleague MPs at the time.
Due to this, Asiedu Nketia mentioned that the NPP side of the House gave him the nickname ‘General Mosquito’ – the nick name of a rebel leader in war-time Sierra Leone.
“It’s a long story but to summarize it, I put up a fight in Parliament to get someone I considered not to be fit to become a minister under President Kufuor and I succeeded in spite of all the insults and everything.
“All the MPs abandoning me but I stayed on course and got him disqualified and so the NPP then said that I was operating like the then rebel leader in Sierra Leone, that I have taken a rebellious position against all the members of Parliament and succeeded so I was behaving like General Mosquito of Sierra Leone,” Asiedu Nketia told Johnnie Hughes on TV3’s ‘New Day’ on Monday, February 7.
Asiedu contested as MP for Wenchi West constituency and served as MP for 12years.
During his term at Parliament, he served in several Committees such as the Appointments Committee, Finance Committee, Public Accounts Committee, Chairman Mines and Energy Committee, Minority spokesperson on Food, Agriculture, and Cocoa Affairs.
From 1997 – 2001, he served as a Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture (Crops).
During NDC’s delegate congress in December 2005, he won almost 80% of the votes to become the 3rd General Secretary of the NDC.
He has since served as the Chief Scribe of the umbrella party.
About Sierra Leaone’s ‘General Mosquito
Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known by his nickname, ‘General Mosquito’, was a Sierra Leonean commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the rebel group that fought a failed 11-year war to overthrow the government of Sierra Leone and fought closely with President Charles Taylor of Liberia.
Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone civil war for brutal tactics, which included amputation, mutilation and rape.
It was reported at the time that Bockarie, then a fugitive wanted by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, was offered sanctuary in Liberia by Charles Taylor.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
