Correspondence from Bono East

Atebubu MCE allegedly held hostage, assaulted by constituency executives
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Atebubu-Amantin Constituency in the Bono East Region, Edward Owusu, has allegedly been assaulted by some Constituency Executives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The reported incident happened around on Thursday, July 13, 2023, at the office of Edward Owusu and it only took the timely intervention of a combined team of police and military personnel to salvage the situation by whisking him to safety. Per reports available to GhanaWeb, about thirteen constituency executives went to the assembly and demanded to have a meeting with the MCE who was at the time busy in a management meeting.

The reports further indicate that it was during the said meeting with Edward Owusu that they locked the office and reportedly physically assaulted him. Later, the atmosphere at the assembly turned chaotic as supporters suspected to belong to the two camps clashed and engaged in a free for all fight as security personnel looked on helplessly.

A staff of the Assembly on condition of strict anonymity discloses that they were having a management meeting when the constituency executives entered demanding to have a meeting with the MCE so their meeting ended abruptly.

“We were holding a meeting when the constituency executives entered so the MCE excused us so that he could attend to them”, he said.

The source adds that some minutes after they ended the meeting, they heard the MCE shouting for help so they quickly rushed to his office to his rescue but the door was locked from the inside which compelled them to forcibly break the door with an emergency fire extinguisher.

“Moments after we left his office, we heard him shouting for help so we quickly rushed there to ascertain what was happening but the door was locked from the inside so we broke the door with an emergency fire extinguisher”, he added.

Purpose of meeting

Edward Owusu tells GhanaWeb in an interview that the constituency executives demanded that he stepped down as the MCE once they entered his office but he told them to convey the request to the appointing authority but some of them started vandalising his office and attacked him in the process.

“I was having a management meeting when they entered so I decided to meet them because they are party members. They informed me that they were there to remove me from office so I told them to petition the president but they locked the door and two of them; Tofic Adams and Sulemana Alhassan started vandalising my office and hitting me with chairs injuring me on my left hand and neck”, the MCE explained.

He described the incident as a matter of life and death because it was clear they were on a mission to kill him if not for the timely intervention of the security who responded to a distress call.

“If not for God and the timely intervention of the security, I would have been killed because it was a matter of life and death at that moment”, he added.

Constituency executives Dodgy over the incident

Although the constituency executives are dodgy and tight-lipped over the incident, the first Vice Chairman, Yaw Effa, confirms to GhanaWeb that they were with the MCE but refuses to give additional details about the incident.

“For now, I don’t want to comment on it but what I can say is that we visited the office but I can’t go further than that for now”, he said.

Meanwhile, staff of the assembly who are concerned over their safety have resolved not to return to work until proper security measures are put in place.