<<Print>>

A political Maradona who craftily juggled his membership between all the major political parties in the country, has cornered himself in a cul-de-sac, after his attempt to milk one of his victims again nose-dived into a misadventure. Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio, whose opportunism has led him into spells with the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Progressive People�s Party (CPP), has been cold watered in his latest attempt to trans-mutate from being a Parliamentary Candidate of the CPP into an Executive member of the NDC in Tema East. Last wee, the NDC�s Constituency Chairman for Tem East, Mustapha Darko, told The Enquirer newspaper in an interview that the party did not know the membership of Mr. Amarfio, even though the man has been throwing his weight about in town as a member of the NDC. Mr. Darko unequivocally emphasized to 'The Enquirer' that an Oshaana NDC branch membership card that Mr. Amarfio was carrying about as testament to his membership in the NDC was fake. The Tema East NDC Constituency Chairman�s brand of Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio as an impostor is a big spanner into a bold attempt by Mr. Amarfio to make the NDC a second time victim of fakery and opportunism that the NPP, PPP and the CPP have already fallen victim to. A smooth talker, Mr. Amarfio has similarly paraded himself as a member of the three aforementioned parties in the past and milked them of money for purported campaign activities that never materialized. After he has succeeded in collecting money from his victims, he is observed to always go into hibernation with his phones switched off until the victims give up on getting their monies back. In 2004, Mr. Amarfo who claimed unalloyed allegiance to the NPP was observed to be a very active member of the Campaign Team of the party�s Parliamentary Candidate for Tema East, Hon. Ishmeal Ashietey. He is said, however, to have gone underground until he resurfaced in 2008 claiming to be a staunch Nkrumaist. Taken in, the CPP allowed him to stand as its Parliamentary Candidate. However, after an overwhelming under-performance in the parliamentary elections, Richster Amarfio, trooped to the Kuku Hill Campaign Office of then Candidate Mills, with the claim that, in an impending run-off in the Presidential Election, he had thrown his weight behind the late Professor, and that he wanted to hold a press conference to convince his supporters to vote for Prof. Mills. The Enquirer has heard that he was handed millions of old cedis to hold the press conference, but after laying hands on the money, he journeyed to Nana Akufo-Addo�s campaign office to make a similar request. When he got the money from Nana Addo, Richster went into hiding and switched off his phones until the elections were over. Fast forward to 2012; in the buildup to the December elections, Richster Nii Amarfio paraded himself as a CPP member and was encouraged by the Nkrumaists to contest the Tema East parliamentary elections on the ticket of the CPP. However, sources report that, Mr. Amarfio met secretly with the PPP�s Presidential Candidate, Paa Kwesi Nduom, at a guest-house in Tema called Leonardo Guest House, where he had organized a few fisher folk to create the impression that he had support in Tema. Then, under the pretext of printing PPP posters for Dr. Nduom and himself, he collected the mustache man�s millions. Because he had also taken money from CPP for a similar purpose, it is alleged, Mr. Amarfio initially printed his campaign posters without either the symbol of the CPP or the PPP, nor the pictures of their respective Presidential candidates. It is common knowledge in Tema East that Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio only printed campaign posters with CPP symbols at the eleventh hour, after his initial posters had gone symbol-less for a long time. As a CPP Parliamentary candidate he lost miserably. It is after his loss, and the NDC had won the Presidential elections that he went to town claiming he was now a member of the NDC. But Mustapha Darko, the NDC�s Constituency Chairman, emphatically disowned Mr. Amarfio as an NDC member in an interview with The Enquirer. �I don�t know what his party is. As far as I know, he is not a member of the NDC,� he said. Interestingly, Mr. Amarfio carries a membership card from the Oshana branch of the party in Accra New Town. The Constituency Chairman was quick in denouncing that membership card. �That card is an old out-of-use card that was in vogue during the tenure of Dr. Josiah Aryeh as General Secretary,� he said. Mustapha Darko revealed that, after the elections, Mr. Amarfio asked a certain Dr. Dzikunu to help him become a leading member of the party, but as Chairman, he advised that Mr. Amarfio start his membership from the grassroots. He said, later, Richster handed him his resignation letter from the CPP to buttress his lobby to be made a leading member of the NDC, but he (Chairman) insisted that he starts from the grassroots. �He hasn�t done that yet but I keep hearing things about him that are not characteristic of our party and our leader, His Excellency John Mahama,� the Tema East NDC Chairman lamented. Among others, Richster Nii Amarfio has threatened to murder Stephen Ashietey Adjei, an associate of Tema MCE Kempes Ofosuware. His threat was based on his assumption that a secret recording of a plot by Mr. Amarfio�s best friend, Eben Anuwah Amarh, to organize demonstrations against the MCE until the MCE is removed from office and replaced by him, was leaked to The Enquirer. The Enquirer has heard that Mr. Amarfio throws his weight about in public fearlessly because he is connected to people at the seat of government.