THE MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK) in the Central Region, Mr. Andrew Kingsford Mensah, has reacted angrily to The Chronicle publication of Monday September 25, 2006 that he had hijacked Aburaman Secondary School's bus before it was presented.

He described the publication as irresponsible on the part of the reporter for failing to contact him on the issue.

"You have really damaged my hard-won political reputation," he fumed.

According to him, he managed to invite the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, of which he is a member, to Aburaman School sometime in June 2005 when the headmistress and staff requested for the bus.

"I wrote to the Minister of Education for the bus, copied to the headmistress of the school," he recalled.

"Meanwhile, during my tenure of office as DCE of AAK, my own President promised the same school a bus when he made a brief stopover at Abura Dunkwa on his way to AngloGold Ashanti in Obuasi.

"Whether I lobbied for it or not is neither here nor there because as the MP for the constituency, I'm working for the President and the people.

"I brought the vehicle on September 16, 2006, having collected it on September 14 from Accra."

He told the paper that on Sunday, a day after the bus reached his premises at Abura Dunkwa, he informed Mr. Job Acquah Markin, the DCE, at his residency, claming he had earlier contacted Nana Ato Arthur, Central Regional Minister, "who told me on phone that his schedule was tight; therefore the DCE and I should do the handing over of the bus to the school."

The MP said the DCE agreed that the presentation of the bus be made the following day, but later at about 10am on Monday September 18, Acquah Markin called to inform him that the Regional Minister had ordered that the handing over ceremony be done by the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who was then visiting the University of Cape Coast, and that the bus should be parked at the premises of the District Assembly.

This, he said, he complied with, explaining that the bus was sent to the District Assembly premises on Tuesday because the driver was at Moree and had only visited him at Abura Dunkwa that very day.

He went on to say that when the driver, who happens to be his personal driver, drove the bus to the Assembly's offices, the DCE was not present and he decided to drive the bus to the DCE's residence where he again met the DCE's absence.

According to him, the driver then parked the car at the DCE's residence and brought the keys to him (the MP) for safekeeping.

The MP said the DCE came to him on Wednesday and asked that he let his driver send the bus to the District Assembly premises.

He said after this had been done, the DCE wanted him to keep the key, which he declined, thinking that it was more appropriate that he as MP, who had taken the bus from Accra, kept the keys to the vehicle, knowing very well he would be held accountable for whatever happened between that time and when it was eventually handed over to the school.

He was greatly disappointed that this had been misconstrued to mean he had hijacked the School's bus.