Revelations in a memoir written by actress and film producer; Yvonne Nelson, rocked the entertainment industry in Ghana and even Africa following its release on Sunday, June 19, 2023.
Gurus in the industries including award-winning Ghanaian musician Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, and Nigerian musician Iyana, had experiences they had with the actress shared with the public.
Aside from persons in the entertainment industry, politicians in Ghana, including a former Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and other past presidents of Ghana also featured heavily in Yvonne Nelson’s biography, which is titled ‘I Am Not Yvonne Nelson’.
Here is what Yvonne Nelson said about some notable politicians in her book:
The actress in her book, disclosed that at some point in her life, she was made to believe that Peter Ala Adjetey, a Speaker of Parliament of Ghana from 2001 to 2004, was her biological father and not the man whose name she bares; Mr Nelson.
The film-maker, after being told that Peter Ala Adjetey might be her father, went on a mission to get to know more about the man.
“Even without Googling, I knew Peter Ala Adjetey was tall, but that’s where our similarities ended. President John Agyekum Kufuor had a hand in the nomination of Peter Ala Adjetey as the second Speaker of Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. He was subsequently voted by members of parliament and sworn into office,” she wrote.
Unfortunately, things did not end well, as Yvonne who conducted a DNA test to finalise her conviction, was met with another shock that the former Speaker of Parliament isn’t her father either.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor
Yvonne Nelson disclosed in her book that the second president of the 4th Republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor was her confidant during the period she was trying to find out who her biological father was.
According to the actress, there were a lot of questions begging for answers, and she saw Mr. Kufuor as the right man to clear her thoughts.
Because the late Mr. Ala Adjetey was one of the persons former President Kufuor had closely worked with, Yvonne saw it as a good opportunity to dig more into his personality, as the physical features she had seen in pictures weren’t enough clues.
“Prior to that, Peter Ala Adjetey had served as the national chairman of the NPP from 1995 to 1998 and worked with Mr. Kufuor in that capacity, so the two knew each other well. Before the Fourth Republic, both men had been politicians in the 1980s, so I was speaking to the right man.
“It was when I spoke to former President John Agyekum Kufuor that he pointed out other invisible features that linked me to the politician he had worked closely with,” she wrote.
She then said that the former president advised her not to be consumed by her past and the things she has no control over, but rather focus on building on whatever gains she had made.
Yvonne added that Mr. Kufuor was elated that she had turned out great in spite of her father’s absence in her life.
“He said I should focus on building on whatever gains I had made and not brood over things I had no control over. He opened his doors to me and assured me of a listening ear if I ever needed any. I left feeling somewhat happy or relieved, but it was temporary,” she stated.
Former President John Mahama Mahama:
Nelson also disclosed in her book that she received calls from ex-President John Mahama’s office, expressing his desire to meet her over a planned demonstration on the erratic power supply that was seen in the Mahama era, which became popularly known as dumsor.
However, she declined the invitation, insisting that her fellow protest organisers be present during the meeting. Despite pressure from the presidency for a one-on-one meeting, Nelson stood her ground, maintaining that a meeting without her colleagues would not take place.
“I also received calls from the office of President John Dramani Mahama. The callers said the president wanted to meet me, but I told them I would only meet with the president on condition that my fellow organisers of the protest would be part of that meeting. The officials at the presidency insisted that the president wanted to meet me alone. I stood my ground, stating that if the president was not prepared to meet me with my colleagues, then the meeting was not going to happen,” she said in her book.
Reflecting on the political landscape, Nelson acknowledged that the magnitude of the problem naturally offered political advantages to opposition parties.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Aside from Sarkodie, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was arguably the person who felt the heat most, from the release of; “I am not Yvonne Nelson’.
Yvonne Nelson expressed her disappointment over a picture she took with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during his election victory in 2016.
The memoir reveals that Yvonne Nelson and her friends visited the then president-elect Akufo-Addo to extend their congratulations shortly after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its candidate emerged victorious in the 2016 elections.
According to her, the opposition won the election because, at that time, the nation was grappling with a severe power crisis, known as “dumsor,” which had resulted in significant job losses and adversely impacted small-scale enterprises heavily reliant on electricity.
She spoke about her involvement in the 2015 #DumsorMustStop protest before adding;
“A year later, the opposition NPP and its candidate won the 2016 election. The power crisis and its effects were a major sin of the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC). Dumsor had resulted in job losses and dealt a deadly blow to the small-scale enterprises that depended on electricity but could not afford alternative sources of power. Even though the NDC administration resolved the crises at a huge cost and through shady procurement deals, the victims of dumsor, corruption, and mismanagement could not forgive the party at the presidential and parliamentary polls.
“The NPP, led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, won massively in both the presidential and parliamentary elections. Some friends and I went to congratulate the president-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, with whom we took a photograph. It is a photograph I regret taking.”
She added that Nana Akufo-Addo, who was presented as an incorruptible leader and the antidote to corruption in the public sector and political space, has fallen short of expectations.
“He was said to be incorruptible, and Ghanaians thought he was going to be the antidote to mass stealing at the highest level, which is euphemized as corruption. Unfortunately for Ghana and those who trusted in him, he has turned out to be a monumental disappointment whose government’s unbridled borrowing, corruption, and reckless spending plunged the nation into economic dumsor,” she wrote in her book dubbed; “I Am Not Yvonne Nelson.”
In her book, Yvonne Nelson, among other disclosures, revealed that she was contacted by a person close to the president to become the parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party for the Ayawso West Wuogon Constituency in the 2020 general elections, which she declined.
ghanaweb.com
