Kumasi(Ashanti Region) 21 Dec. '98

Thirty-sixmembers of the National DemocraticCongress (NDC) made up of preachers and evangelistsfrom various churches, which supported the party duringthe 1992 and 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary elections haveresigned from the party with immediate effect. A statement issued in Kumasi on Monday and signed by Arch EvangelistSolomon Lamptey, Director of the Group and leader of the Ashanti Region branch of the Group to the General Secretaryof the party and copied to the press, said the decision was taken at its annual general meeting held at Juaben in Ashanti on December 15. "We have now given up our task assignment due to some circumstancesbeyond our control and also as God's representativeswe have resigned from the NDC with immediate effect",it added. It will be recalled that Arch Evangelist Lamptey and two others,Miss Lydia Oforiwaa Lamptey, both of the Kobea Beam branchof the party at Juaben and Madam Faustina Monney of Amakomand member of the Subin branch of the party, filed a writat a Kumasi High Court on October eight against the party. The writ was praying the court for an interim injunction againstthe holding of the Ashanti Regional Congress of the party whichwas scheduled for October nine at Tepa until the party's constitution and conventionsgoverning elections were complied with. It was, however, withdrawn from the court after the interventionby the former Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Daniel OheneAgyekum and his Deputy, Mrs Joana Appiah-Dwomoh, who settledthe case amicably and paved the way for the regional congress.