The elected Assembly Member for Ahanta Aboade, Mr. Ebenezer Essien, may have betrayed his close friend the dismissed District Chief Executive (DCE), following the former’s decision to put in an application to be considered for the vacant position.

The decision, unknown to his close pal (dismissed DCE), has come as a surprise and shock to many assembly members, who have been ‘fighting’ for the reinstatement of the DCE. The worst is that, the elected assembly members, together with Ebenezer Essien, have been leading a crusade to see to the reinstatement of the dismissed DCE, Joseph Dofoyena.

The members have been holding separate press conferences to drum home why the President needed to re-consider his decision to dismiss Joseph Dofoyena. That apart, they have also been firing an avalanche of petitions to the Office of the President, calling for the reinstatement of the DCE.

In one of the press statements read by Ebenezer Essien, and flanked by other elected assembly members, the group called on the President to re-instate the dismissed DCE for the betterment of the District. This was because the DCE, according to the spokesperson Essien, was incorruptible and a likeable figure in the District.

But little did the other members know that one of their own would stab and betray them in the back by applying for the position. Checks by the Western File indicate that Ebenezer Essien and nine others have put in applications to be considered as the next DCE for the Ahanta West District.

Ebenezer Essien, a close pal of dismissed DCE Joseph Dofoyena, would have to battle one John Mohammed Arthur, A Director of Non-Formal Education Unit at the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the District and Paa Quashie, a former Convention Peoples Party (CPP) parliamentary candidate are in the battle for the vacant DCE position.

The rest are one Peter Essien, George Gbabga and another Yankey. Information available to this paper indicates that the camp of the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area prefers Muhammed Arthur as the next DCE.

The MP, in a telephone interview, would not confirm or deny the information. However, George Kwame Aboagye only confirmed that he was aware nine persons had applied for the position.

Though Ebenezer Essien confirmed to The Chronicle in a telephone interview that he had applied to be considered for the position, he argued that, that could not be interpreted to mean that “I have stabbed my friend dismissed DCE and assembly members in the back.”

According to Essien, though he admitted that he together with colleague assembly members have been leading a crusade to see to the reinstatement of the dismissed DCE, there was nothing wrong in deciding to apply for the position.

“Though we are all trying to bring him (DCE) back, there is also the need for the vacant position to be filled. So if there is that opportunity, do I have to fold my arms and watch others apply while I can do likewise?”

Essien, who holds Masters Degree in Mathematics, told this reporter, however, that when it became obvious that his friend DCE could not be reinstated, “I went to his house to inform him that I want to apply for the position.”

According to Essien, at the time he was informing his friend DCE of his decision to apply for the vacant position, other executive members of the party, including the Vice Chairman, the deputy regional Treasurer, amongst others, were present.

‘And all of them, including the DCE, agreed with me to apply for the vacant position.” He continued: “I think it a very wise decision I have taken, and I don’t have any guilty conscious for doing that.”

Some of the assembly members, who did not want to be named, told this reporter that following the decision by Essien to apply for the position, the campaign to bring back the DCE had now floundered. Consequently, they and some chiefs who were involved in the campaign had thrown in the towel.