General News of Wednesday, 7 October 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Bono Regional Minister has rendered Sunyani MCE ‘useless, helpless’ – Majority Chief Whip

Majority Chief Whip, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh Majority Chief Whip, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh

Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, the member of Parliament for Sunyani East has launched yet another attack on the Bono Regional Minister, Evelyn Ama Kumi Richardson, accusing her of rendering the Municipal Chief Executive of the area, ‘useless and helpless’.

Ameyaw-Kyeremeh is unhappy that Madam Evelyn Ama Kumi Richardson is exercising control over the Sunyani Municipal Assembly, thereby crippling the MCE, Justina Owusu Banahene.

The Majority Chief Whip is reported by the Chronicle to have cited the regional minister for corruption and creating a mess in the region.

“Excuse me to say this on air but the current Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive is useless and helpless. She is, as said in the local parlance, “Simpa Panyin (ineffective leader) because the regional minister has hijacked the assembly system and controls certain actions, rendering the administration of the MCE ineffective”.

“The regional minister who is the immediate past MCE of Sunyani activated forward contracting which is compelling the assembly to constantly pay contractors’ debt even though they are not on the site”, he is quoted to have said on Nimdee FM.

Another person who according to the MP has become a victim of the Regional Minister’s vindictiveness, is the deputy Bono Regional Minister, Siaka Stevens.

Ameyaw-Cheremeh says like the MCE, Siaka Steven has been redundant as he is not given any room to operate by the minister.

“Siaka Stevens does nothing in the office. He is not given the opportunity to function as deputy regional minister. Not a single letter passes through his office. He buys fuel and maintains his official vehicle. He does not even drink water in his office”, he said.

This is the latest in a series of attacks on the Bono Regional Minister by the MP.

In an interview with Angel FM on Friday, Ameyaw-Cheremeh accused the minister of being corrupt.

“Evelyn Ama Richardson in 2018 wrote to the Sunyani Municipality claiming she had been invited by Nanaimo [a city on the East Coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada] to rekindle their deserted relationship [Sister City], which was never true.”

She used the money meant for the Nanaimo trip as an excuse to join a convention hosted by Rotary International in Toronto, Canada since she was a member.”

“I don’t mince my words because I was the initiator of the ‘Sister City’ relationship [Nanaimo and Sunyani] and so if I say she is corrupt, then she is corrupt,” he told Captain Smart.

When asked about the frosty relationship between the Minister and MP, the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP Abronye DC said he is unaware of any fight between the two.

“I never knew this until you told me. So now that you have told me, I’m going to probe and see if we can find a solution”, he told Kwame Nkrumah Tikese of Okay FM