General News of Monday, 16 October 2006

Source: Daily Guide

Kofi Wayo Faces Expulsion

Mr. Chucks Kofi Wayo’s romance with the United Renaissance Party (URP) appears to be on the precipice, as the executives of the political grouping are exploring possibilities of expelling him from their midst, in the face of an accusation of extortion and corruption leveled against him by one Maamile.

According to the Acting General Secretary of the party, Mr. Alhassan Saeed, executives of the party have instituted a body to probe the alleged bribery and corruption charge leveled against the eccentric politician.

Giving a genesis of the story, the acting General Secretary said Maamile, who lives at East Legon, sought the assistance of Mr. Kofi Wayo, whom she thought could help her over her child’s accident.

Saeed disclosed that Kofi Wayo, who is also the acting National Chairman of the URP, took the child to the hospital and assisted the mother in drawing an amount of ¢38 million, being the insurance claim for the child’s accident, from the State Insurance Company (SIC).

He said the “Nima Boy”as Chucks Kofi Wayo is sometimes called, said he had spent ¢20 million in hospital bills and bribing SIC officials.

Continuing, the Ag. General Secretary of URP stated that a few days later, Kofi Wayo brought two men, whom he claimed were SIC personnel that had worked out the claim for the child.

The men, he had said, were demanding ¢8million so that they could work out another package for the woman. Convinced about the proposal, Alhassan Saeed said the woman quickly fetched the amount of money and gave it to the two supposed SIC staff members.

“Two weeks ago, while in Kofi Wayo’s house for a meeting, I met a woman at the gate. The woman was shouting on top of her voice, ‘Kofi Wayo you are a conman, you are a 419 man.

Where are the SIC men?” Alhassan Saeed said.

The General Secretary said when he intervened, the woman became furious. He therefore called Kofi Wayo’s brother, George, to talk to the woman.

“I left in a taxi with Kofi Wayo, during which I reminded him that I once asked him if he had not settled this woman yet? I added that this could drag the image of our party in the mud.

He became furious and told me that it was his private affair and not the URP’s” he said. Alhassan Saeed said he convened a meeting at Frankies Hotel in Nima, with the executives of the party to discuss the issue, during which it was agreed that a committee be set up to investigate the allegation.

“If the allegation was found to be true, he would be presented to the Disciplinary Committee of the party for further action, because Article 14 (a) of our constitution states that if any member who practices nepotism or corruption, the General Secretary shall notify executives, so that a committee of enquiry is set up, based on which the officer is sent to the disciplinary committee before suspension or other sanctions.

If the official is not satisfied, he can go to court” he said. He however stated, “We are not sacking Kofi Wayo but only enquiring the veracity of the allegation of bribery and corruption against him.

We are therefore telling our entire membership that they should stay cool and calm until the findings are presented to the executives.”

“I’m assuring members that the party won’t present loose talkers as presidential candidates. We have people who can vie for the flagbearership of the party and so they should not be scared away by Kofi Wayo’s misconduct,” he said.

Kofi Wayo told CitiFM, an Accra-based radio station, over the last weekend that Maamile was reckless with the money he had assisted her to claim from SIC.

According to him, she is demanding more money because she did not invest with the claim. He threatened to sue the URP General Secretary, Saeed, for saying that the party does not belong to him (Kofi Wayo).

He also accused Saeed of embezzling money meant for organising the party, saying that the acting General Secretary’s conduct has exposed the party to public ridicule.

The embattled acting National Chairman of the URP indicated that the executive would take disciplinary action against Saeed.

Kofi Wayo is noted for his scathing utterances against his critics. He recently described the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as a megalomaniac, former President Jerry John Rawlings, a violent armed robber and President John Agyekum Kufuor, a gentle armed robber.

A story Daily Guide presented based on an interview with the Ag General Secretary of the URP, earned the paper’s staff all manner of insults and unsubstantiated allegations. de