Kofi Okyere-Darko, popularly known as KOD, has revealed his reasons for aligning with the NDC after he shifted his support for the NPP in 2008.
KOD in an interview with Class FM on Thursday, September 12, recalled the days he believed in and supported then presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo.
“That was in 2008. The platform that launched Nana’s campaign, that was called Believe in Ghana,” he said. “I was one of the orchestrators of the platform.”
KOD narrated that it all started, when he “got a call from my great friend and brother Gabby Otchere-Darko,” who told him about Akufo-Addo’s ambition to run for presidency and “the platform he wants to use is the creative arts”.
Later, “I had a conversation with Nana himself, His Excellency,” KOD added.
The media and fashion icon noted that he believed in Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP presidential candidate at the time because he had a good relationship with some creatives.
He said he was convinced that President Akufo-Addo was going to support the creative industry.
“He [Akufo-Addo] has a history of having a certain relationship with the creative arts: back in his days in university, he was an events organiser, he’s a showboy, he had relationships with people like [Afrobeats icon] Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti – Fela would come to Ghana and hang out with Akufo-Addo; when Hugh Masekela died, I think, Nana Akufo-Addo was the only president that showed up at his funeral because he had that relationship with him”.
KOD mentioned that he was amazed at all these and thought Nana Akufo-Addo “understands the orange economy, the creative arts, and for what he told me he’d do once he got into office,” so he decided to support the then New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer.
So, he joined the campaign team for Nana Akufo-Addo. He said, wherever they went, they would “have a show, musical performances, that took place 2 to 3 hours before the campaign or rally itself – we had [artistes like] Kwabena Kwabena, Wutah, A-Plus, Christiana Love – Obaapa Christy as she calls herself now – Nacee, [etc. on stage] and some not-so-known [acts]”.
“Everyone wants to go out and listen to music, so once they’re out, that platform was used to communicate to the people,” the Nineteen57 founder explained, noting, however, “It didn’t work [Akufo-Addo didn’t win the election].”
KOD recalled that after the 2008 elections, he ended his support for Akufo-Addo.
“After 2008, I took a backseat. After the Believe in Ghana project, that was it for me,” he said.
His reason was “not because the project failed” but “I went through something”.
He explained that after his campaign, his colleagues at work were unhappy with him. At the time, he worked at Radio Gold, a radio station which was strongly believed to be NDC inclined.
“Some of my colleagues at Radio Gold where I worked – [since] like a year after the station’s inception – were not too happy with me: ‘Kofi, you’ve always been with us and you went to support Nana Akufo-Addo’. So they proposed to kick me out. If it [Akufo-Addo’s campaign] had succeeded, I probably wouldn’t have gone back to Radio Gold so [the question was:] ‘Why come back?’” he recalled.
He said the only reason he did not lose his job was because “my boss and mentor Mr [Kwasi Sainti] Baffoe-Bonnie” intervened, arguing KOD “is not malicious person” and was not seen using abusive language in his campaign for Akufo-Addo.
Again, “the great Prof Mills – His Excellency – also, said, ‘Kofi’s my son’. So if he’s supported one of the candidates – this man’s great heart tells him that: There were two great people running for the office of the land, and I chose one side. It’s okay if I didn’t support him.
“That’s what changed it for me. His [Prof Mills] heart,” KOD disclosed, stressing that marked his significant shift in supporting the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
KOD has now publicly declared his support for the NDC and has even been appointed as one of the spokesperson for the NDC ahead of the 2024 December elections.
