…Regional Chairman Under Fire

The Amenfi West constituency branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is at the throat of the regional chairman, Nana Owusu Ankomah, for what the branch members have described as an ungodly utterance he made against the constituency.

Investigations by The Heritage have revealed that the regional chairman made the remarks at an emergency meeting held at Samreboi, three weeks ago, where the polling station chairmen had congregated to pass a vote of no confidence in their beleaguered constituency chairman, Yiadom Brochie. They had accused the chairman of financial malpractices, dictatorship, awarding contracts to himself and making unprintable remarks about President Agyekum Kufuor at a popular drinking spot at Asankrangwa.

At the said meeting, The Heritage learnt, when there seemed to be no amicable solution to the crises, the regional chairman told the gathering that he had washed his hands off the matter because the constituency, after all, was not one of those that voted Mr Kufuor into power.

This ‘blasphemous’ utterance by no less a person than the regional chairman of the NPP seemed to have angered the gathering so much that the said meeting came to an abrupt end with the polling station chairmen sticking to their demand for the removal of the constituency chairman.

Notwithstanding the objectionable utterance by the regional chairman, the polling station chairmen went on to hold a press conference at which 59 of the 83 polling station chairmen appended their signatures for the removal of the constituency chairman.

Clearly not satisfied, the polling station chairmen, The Heritage can confirm, are waiting for a day the regional chairman would lead any of the several NPP presidential aspirants to the constituency to canvass for their support.

According to the chairmen, they had developed dislike for Nana Ankomah the very day he assumed office, charging that, after the jus-ended voter registration exercise, an amount of over ¢400million was made available for the party agents in the Western region but he connived with Yiadom Boachie and denied the Amenfi West and East their shares of the honourarium.

The Heritage learnt that later, Nana Ankomah was alleged to have directed some DCEs in the region to pay the allowances to the party executives but they contended that, since the national executive had made provision to that effect, there was no justification for them to cough up the said allowances.

Meanwhile, reports reaching The Heritage indicate that the youth in the constituency are beat on joining the Kofi Asante-led Democratic Freedom Party, if immediate action is not taken to solve the impasses. The Heritage can reveal that, ever since Nana Owusu Ankomah took over from the national chairman, Mac Manu, as the Western regional chairman, there have been deep divisions among the regional executives, with incumbent Vice Chairman Kofi Yonkopa having taken effective control of a splinter group of his own.

The division among the party hierarchy in the region started when immediately Nana Owusu Ankomah was elected as the chairman he swore heaven and earth to remove the then regional minister, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, who newsmen confirm used to command the support of the Kofi Yonkopa-led faction of the party.

In a telephone interview with Nana Owusu Ankomah last week, he confirmed making such remarks but explained that the Western region has 23 constituencies and, therefore, would not allow just one constituency to disturb the peace and friendly atmosphere the party enjoys in the region.

According to him, when the emergency meeting was held at Samreboi to find amicable solution to the fracas between the constituency chairman and the polling station chairmen, some of the constituency youth who were wearing red armed banks used petrol and matches to disrupt the meeting which was also attended by some of his regional executives.