Ras Mubarak, a reggae music presenter turned politician, has run away from his earlier position that he was quitting front-line politics to focus on his family and his dream of becoming a university lecturer.
The failed parliamentary aspirant, instead, launched an ill-motivated attack on this newspaper over last Wednesday’s publication centered on his announcement on his Facebook wall, calling the publication mischievous and a joke meant to incite hatred against his person.
“The Herald’s” crime was that Ras Mubarak, who was part of a virulent sect of young men created by Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Rawlings who insulted the late President John Mills until his death, reported on Saturday, March 30, 2013 on his social media platform Facebook, that he is “Leaving front-line politics. Spending more time with family and focusing on academics. Always been my dream to be a University Lecturer. This is the time to build myself up for that”.
The ex-Rasta man’s announcement drew lots of comments with many suggesting he was quitting front-line politics because he felt peeved because the President did not make him a Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations but rather appointed Felix Kwakye Ofosu and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed as deputy minister designates.
In fact as at the time of filing this report, Ras still has this quotation mentioned above boldly written on his wall as friends and well wishers continue to wish him well whiles his opponents make mockery of it.
On Sunday 31, 2013 a day after he posted his decision to quit politics, he explained to his opponents who made mockery of his decision, saying “Let me see if I can help some of our friends who have difficulty understanding simple Language. 1. You don’t have to be on Radio or Tv to be an NDC member. You don’t have to be loud to be noticed.
“There millions of NDC sympathizers and members who are doing their thing on the quiet. It’s important to get that right. 2. Politics to me is a sport. If you play football and you are tired you rest. 3. Like Nana Agyeman aptly mentioned, since when did it become a crime to leave front-line politics for the pursuit of other ambitions?
“Our country’s political terrain is littered by stories of people – MPs, Ministers, DCEs who go to do a Masters or PhD whenever the opportunity arises.
I have truncated the pursuit of my Masters since 2010. This is the time to get that out of the way, hopefully do a PhD, and teach. If 2016 comes and I feel like running for office, I would run”.
According to information though Ras failed to mentioned that he indeed wrote the said decision on his wall and also refused to mention it in his so-called statement denying the Wednesday publication, he has admitted somewhere that heindeed wrote it but it was an ‘April Fool’s Day’ prank, which means he wrote it two clear days before the day was celebrated on Monday.
Ras Mubarak, said to be a product of Kumasi-based “Institute of Business Management and Journalism” has a history of practicing politics of convenience after abandoning his reggae show on Ghana Television (GTV), shaving off his dreadlocks and venturing into politics.
While wanting to vie for the Ablemkuma North Parliamentary seat, Ras Mubarak quietly sneaked to the Castle-Osu where he virtually kneeled before President Mills, and apologized for the insults that he had in the past rained on him whiles with the Rawlings’ family.
Shortly thereafter, Ras Mubarak who had been on many foreign trips with the Rawlingses went out and shockingly denied ever being part of a group of young men who called themselves Friend of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings “FONKAR”.
He played the role of a member of the committee that organized the burial of the late President Mills. Later he was accused of “chopping” some of the funeral donations. An allegation he later denied through a publication done for him last year by “The Herald”.
Ras Mubarak was recently seen in Turkey as a member of the President John Mahama’s investment entourage, but without a clearly defined designation or locus.
Meanwhile, there are reports that he now works at the Ministry of Information and Media Relations under Mr. Mahama Ayariga with a vaguely defined status as head of media.
The diminutive National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2012 parliamentary candidate in the Greater Accra Region, was recently seen distributing envelopes to some selected media houses.
It was in that capacity and his role in NDC’s Communication Team which he recently reviewed its activities, and very instrumentally ousted the Managing Editor of “The Insight” Kwesi Pratt from Metro TV’s newspaper review programme, “Goodmorning Ghana”.
The out-spoken politician, in the December elections polled 34,534 for the NDC while Joe Appiah bagged 53,115 from 163 voting centres to retain his seat for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). But Mr. Mubarak sent his constituents and the nation on a wild goose chase, claiming that he rather won the seat for the NDC.
Mr. Mubarak in 2009 at an NDC’s conference to elect national executives in Tamale, contested the position of National Youth Organizer, but lost to Mr Ludwig Hlordze.