Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey
• Okraku-Mantey has said Rawlings’ coup d’état made him dislike the NDC
• He stated that his father’s life was threatened during those moments
• Okraku-Mantey noted he does not wish to witness any coup d’état in Ghana
The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey has revealed that former President Jerry John Rawlings’ coup d’état made him develop a distasteful stance to supporting the main opposition National Democratic Congress.
According to Mark, his father who was a businessman had come under several life-threatening attacks in the coups led by Rawlings.
Sharing his story on Joy FM over the weekend, the music producer and manager noted that he became used to seeing guns as military men often trooped into their home and mostly disrupted their sleep because they wanted to apprehend his father.
Okraku-Mantey noted that due to this, he developed a form of dislike for the then Provisional National Defense Council which later evolved into the NDC.
“When my father was young, because he was an entrepreneur, he saw some money and he did some good stuff around,” the Deputy Minister said in an interview monitored by GhanaWeb.
He added, “So when ex-president Rawlings did his first and second coups, (in respect of) both of them, my dad was wanted because at the time, successful people were brought to book, so he was wanted.
“As a little boy, guns were common in my home from some of these military men looking for my dad and so that is why anytime when people mention coup, I tell them that don’t wish for a coup,” the former Hitz FM Programmes Director stated.
According to him, “I constantly had a running tummy, they could come in at any time, 3:00am and all. So by default, I am any other party apart from PNDC evolving into NDC.”
