‘I was dropped because I’m Lebanese’: Fadi Daboussi laments missed role under Akufo-Addo

Writer and known New Patriotic Party (NPP) sympathiser Fadi Samih Daboussi has publicly expressed deep disappointment with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for allegedly withdrawing an ambassadorial appointment promised to him in 2017, citing objections based on his Lebanese heritage.

In a strongly worded Facebook post on Friday, July 25, Mr Daboussi recounted his earlier nomination by President Akufo-Addo as “Presidential Envoy to the Middle East on Investment.”

According to him, the appointment was scrapped following resistance from within the president’s inner circle due to concerns about his “whiteness” and Lebanese roots.

“The argument of the narcissist bigots was that I am white and of Lebanese origins, and giving me an appointment would incur the ire of Ghanaians, risking the 2020 general elections,” Daboussi revealed.

He claimed that President Akufo-Addo, though supportive of his appointment, was eventually compelled to back down under pressure. “There and then, I opted out and told him that I was no longer interested,” he wrote, adding that the full details would be captured in his upcoming book.

Fadi, who describes himself as having been born and bred in Ghana, noted that his father migrated to the country in 1949 and never left. “My love for justice and mercy swelled and swirled in my very sinews,” he wrote, recounting how his political convictions led him to passionately campaign for Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP, even landing him twice in police cells during the party’s opposition years.

Despite his earlier loyalty to the NPP cause, Fadi expressed regret at how he was treated, suggesting it reflected deep-seated prejudice. “I fought for him (and the NPP) a battle very few could have dared step forward to participate in,” he wrote. “But when it mattered most, my nationality became an obstacle.”

The post, which has since sparked debate online, came as part of a broader commentary in which Daboussi praised President John Dramani Mahama for what he called a more inclusive approach to national appointments.

“I congratulate Mr Choi on his appointment as Ambassador-designate to South Korea. Thank you, John Dramani Mahama, for showing that you are not a bigot,” he said in reference to Mr Mahama’s decision to appoint Kojo Choi, a Ghanaian-South Korean national, as ambassador.

Fadi’s comments resurrect the longstanding tensions around dual nationality and identity in Ghana’s public service, political leadership and diplomatic appointments, a subject that has gained renewed attention following recent legal and political controversies.

Fadi hinted at an upcoming book where he will give further details about the treatment meted out to him by the NPP.

“I will leave it here and discuss the undignified manner with which an attempt at sacking me from Jubilee House was orchestrated in February 2017… You will have to buy my book to read all that, though,” he teased.

Fadi Daboussi, often described as a controversial journalist and outspoken commentator, has written and published politically charged works in the past, including the so-called “Red Book” before the 2016 elections.

He was once arrested and detained, allegedly for the publication of false news, among other issues, before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the 2016 elections.

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