JAK please spare our Minister, pleads Yankopa but Chairman threatens action and says No Sir

The Western regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Owusu Ankomah, and some of his regional executives have dissociated themselves from a statement propping up the Regional Minister who is listing achievements of the regional minister, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, and calling on president Kufuor not to remove him in the reshuffle as is being widely speculated here.

According to Nana Owusu Ankomah, neither was he aware of the said press statement nor had he seen a copy of it, adding that the regional first vice chairman, Padmore Yonkopa Arthur, who is from the same area as the regional minister, exceeded his powers by issuing the statement without the approval of the other members of the regional executive.

He said under the constitution of the party, the regional first vice chairman has no power to call a meeting or issue a press statement without the consent or informing the secretary, but this was exactly what had happened and that they would be meeting soon to take a disciplinary action on his conduct, which has taken national dimension.

Nana Owusu Ankomah was speaking in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle last Friday when he said the power to appoint and sack ministers resided in the president only and not the party, and that it would be wrong for the party to issue press statements calling on the president to either sack or retain certain ministers.

He further said as a party, they needed to sit back and allow the president to appoint his ministers without their involvement or interference because they did not want to see a situation where the incoming minister would think that they as a party have antagonized him.

But the first regional vice chairman, Mr. Yonkopa Arthur, countered in an interview with The Chronicle, that if the other regional executives were dissociating themselves from the said statement, then he had been vindicated that the regional Chairman, Nana Owusu

Ankomah, the Secretary, Anthony K. Sam, and the Organizer, Kojo Acquah, who traveled to Accra last week, were there solely to plot the exit of the sitting regional minister, Joseph Boahene Aidoo.

He further told the paper that as the first regional chairman, the constitution of the party mandated him to take decisions in the interest of the party when the substantive chairman was not around.

This, according to him, he did by issuing the said statement which he said was endorsed by the regional treasurer and the youth organizer of the party, Mrs. Edna Nyame and Onasis Aminu respectively, as well as other fifteen constituency chairmen of the party.

Meanwhile, Onasis Aminu has denied in an interview with this reporter that he also endorsed the press statement, saying he was a victim of circumstance and did not have any foreknowledge of the said statement.

In the said press statement, posted by the Ghana News Agency, the first Vice Chairman had made a passionate appeal to the president, J. A. Kufuor, to retain the regional minister to enable him continue his works in the region.

According to the statement, the regional minister had been a pillar of strength in the party, which had culminated in the increase of the party?s seats in the region from eight to twelve in the last general elections.

?We of the NPP are very grateful to the regional minister for his unflinching support to the cause of the party,? the statement said, adding that the regional branch of the party was pleased with the regional minister?s plans to revamp the party towards the next general elections.

The statement further said that under the able leadership of Boahene Aidoo, the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) had done whatever was within its means to ensure peace in the region.

It pointed out that the first was the ?Nkabom Afahye? initiated by the regional minister two years ago, and the retreat of chiefs last year, all meant to unite the chiefs as well as promote development in the region.

The statement said the regional minister, concerned about the plight of farmers, instituted the cocoa farmers? housing scheme to motivate hardworking farmers.

It said in conclusion that through the regional minister?s effort, an awards day had been instituted in the region, when each year the best nurse took home a saloon car and a weekly allocation of fuel worth 100 thousand cedis.

Other observers believed that it was the same Boahen Aidoo who, in his capacity as the acting DCE for Amenfi East, used state resources amounting to over 800 million cedis to renovate his brother in-law?s bungalow at Akropong for the DCE to stay in it.

Some of the party faithfuls told The Chronicle that the said money could have been used to put up a modest house for the DCE, but instead went into the renovation of his brother-in-law?s bungalow.

Meanwhile, Mr. Joseph Aidoo says he is ready for what he described as the ?political Tsunami? that hit the country last week.

Speaking at the official opening of the regional office for Ernest Chemists in Takoradi last Friday, the minister said; ?Last week there was a political tsunami and it?s expected to take place once again. But some of us are well prepared for it.