``YOU CAN GO TO HELL``

“The MP can go to hell. He can do whatever he likes, I don’t care; I don’t fear; I don’t bother; I don’t mind.”

When the former District Chief Executive (DCE) for Wassa Mpohor East, Tawiah Amprofi, was campaigning for the then Western Regional Minister, Mr. Anthony Evans Amoah just a year to retaining his seat as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, he did not show any sign of also being interested in the seat. But, after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had lost the elections, and become an opposition party, Tawia Amprofi has had a change of mind. He is now reportedly doing everything possible, to ditch his former boss, and become the new MP for the constituency, come 2012.

In pursuance to this agenda, the former DCE reportedly sponsored some candidates to contest the current constituency executives who were being supported by MP Amoah, but all of them lost.

The antics of the former DCE have now resulted in a bad blood between him and Mr. A. E. Amoah, a journalist who has gone into full time politics.

“Yes there is bad blood between us,” Tawia Amprofi bawled at this reporter, and added, “The MP can go to hell. He can do whatever he likes, I don’t care, I don’t fear, I don’t bother, I don’t mind.”

Reliable information gathered by The Chronicle, indicates that both Mr. Amoah and Tawiah Amprofi have been fighting ever since the NPP lost the 2008 elections, but the situation got out of hand in November, when they began campaigning for their preferred candidates in the constituency election in the area.

Party sources told this reporter that Mr. Amprofi was unhappy with certain developments in the party, which he claims, was making the party unpopular in the constituency, which until Amoah came in was being held by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He is reported to have also accused the incumbent Constituency Chairman, Mr. George B. Eshun, who just retained his chairmanship position, of collaborating with the former Regional Minister to ruin the fortunes of the party.

Mr. Amprofi confirmed the story, and told The Chronicle that the two individuals had turned the party into their private organisation, and doing whatever they liked in the constituency, without thinking that they beat NDC in the 2008 election with a slight margin.

“Come to the constituency to see what is happening, many people are resigning why,” he questioned.

When he was reminded about his alleged parliamentary ambitions, which might have triggered off the recent development in the party, he said, “This is A. E. Amoah concocted stories, if you follow it, you will get things wrong.”

Amprofi also confirmed that he supported some candidates to contest the constituency election, but they all lost.

He however argued that the loss does not make A. E. Amoah a popular man, explaining that the constituents themselves were yearning for a change, therefore what happened during the constituency election, was not the end of the battle. “If I want to go to parliament, I can go, nobody can stop me,” he noted.

When the Member of Parliament, A. E. Amoah, was contacted for his side of the story, he said he was not prepared to reduce the internal problem in the party to what the former DCE was doing, and that he would not descend into the gutters with the former DCE.

He described what transpired at the constituency elections, as purely an internal democratic process.

He also denied hijacking the party in the constituency, and refuted the accusation of sponsoring some of the contestants during the contest.

"I did not sponsor anybody in the election. All those who won their positions, are the old executives, and they worked hard, so why do we have to change them,” he asked.

On the DCE and his supporters, A. E. Amoah said, "they competed and lost the election.”

Reacting to the allegations that his conduct had reduced the positive image of the party to its lowest ebb, contributing to the dwindling performance of the party in the last election, the former Regional Minister noted, " the people in the constituency know what we are doing, which I think is right. For me, what is my prime concern is the development of our deprived district, and nothing else," he reiterated.

As the MP for the area, Mr. Amoah said, "I am a leader; I must exhibit maturity and leadership, because my preoccupation as an MP is to help my constituents.”

When the Constituency Chairman, who said he was baffled about the conduct of the former DCE, was contacted, he explained in the interview, that since the former DCE fielded candidates to challenge him and the incumbent constituency executives, and failed in that attempt, his popularity in the constituency had been tested, therefore they (constituency executives) would know where to place him, should he attempt to contest the parliamentary primary.

Mr. Eshun alleged that the former DCE made a similar attempt in 2004, but failed, because the party had directed all ambitious DCEs to resign from their positions, which he failed to do.

The incumbent MP, he said, had just served his four year term as MP for the area, adding “but right from the word go, Amprofi showed that he was interested in the seat.”