The Ghana Gold Board Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, has called on the National Democratic Congress rank and file to stop attacking former DRIP Coordinator Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, saying the two men have already reconciled following Nii Lantey Vanderpuye’s public apology over comments he made criticising Mr Gyamfi’s handling of the GoldBod accountability debate.
Mr Gyamfi’s intervention comes days after Nii Lantey Vanderpuye faced heavy backlash from NDC supporters and commentators over remarks in which he said he would have handled Mr Gyamfi’s response to Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin differently, suggesting Mr Gyamfi lacked the communication polish of an expert like himself.
That criticism prompted Nii Lantey Vanderpuye to issue a formal apology to Mr Gyamfi and the party leadership, which Mr Gyamfi has now accepted publicly, asking the party’s grassroots to do the same.
“The Man Says He’s Sorry. I Believe It Ends There”
Sammy Gyamfi opened his remarks by addressing party supporters directly rather than Nii Lantey Vanderpuye himself. “My good brother, Honourable Nii Lantey, and here I want to address our rank and file,” he said.
He describes Nii Lantey Vanderpuye as one of the people who has been very supportive of his early political career and someone he considers a senior brother who harbours no ill will toward him.
He framed the episode as an honest miscommunication rather than a genuine attack. “We are not all perfect,” Mr Gyamfi said. “Sometimes in communicating, something may come across in a way we never intended it. The man says he’s sorry. I believe it ends there.”
He said the two had spoken the day before the statement directly. “Yesterday I had a very hearty conversation with him, and we put it behind us. Because at the end of the day, we in the NDC have a party to build and a nation to govern.”
Acknowledging the Tone of His Own Response
Sammy Gyamfi did not distance himself entirely from the criticism that had triggered the episode. He acknowledged that his own language in confronting Afenyo-Markin over the GoldBod loss allegations had struck some as unusually forceful.
“The feedback that some of the comparisons and the words were strong, it’s duly understood and taken in good faith,” he said. He defended the tone as necessary given what he described as a sustained campaign against him and the institution he leads.
“That is how you crash deliberate malicious smear campaigns. When somebody wants to, for three months, Sammy Gyamfi this, Sammy Gyamfi this and Goldbod has made losses and Goldbod this, you don’t give such a person a peg on the cheek, a hug, and a bouquet of flowers.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (Goldbod), Sammy Gyamfi
He said calling out that conduct publicly was necessary to show it was not born out of a genuine quest for accountability but was personal, driven, in his account, by what he has previously termed extortion.
The Dispute Vanderpuye Apologised For
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye’s apology, issued the previous day, acknowledged that his remarks created an impression different from what he intended and accepted responsibility for how he communicated his views.
He said his comments were never meant to undermine Mr Gyamfi or lend support to criticism of GoldBod, and described his intention as having been to defend the institution and Mr Gyamfi’s efforts, an intention he said his delivery failed to convey.
He called the episode “an error of judgement and communication” and described Mr Gyamfi as “a committed member of the NDC who has served the party with courage,” while extending his apology beyond Mr Gyamfi to party members who expected senior figures to exercise greater care when discussing colleagues under political attack.
Nii Lantey Vanderpuye also reaffirmed his long-standing loyalty to the National Democratic Congress, describing the party as his political home.
Sammy Gyamfi’s remarks were pointed specifically at ending the backlash Vanderpuye faced from within the party rather than at relitigating the original criticism.
Having accepted the apology privately, he used the public platform to signal to NDC supporters that continued attacks on Nii Lantey Vanderpuye no longer served any purpose, closing the episode as a party matter resolved between the two men directly.
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