Ato Ahwoi attacks Obed

Ato Ahwoi, a leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has accused Dr Yao Obed Asamoah, chairman of the party, of being the campaign manager of Dr Kwesi Botchwey.

He alleged that Dr Asamoah had been going round the whole country asking delegates to vote for Dr Botchwey for the flagbearership.

Ahwoi, who is a member of the Finance Committee of the NDC, was contributing to Radio Gold?s newspaper review last Thursday. He asked, ?Why is Dr Asamoah trying to hide it? He should be bold enough. I am telling Obed to be bold enough to come out as I have come out, and say that he is for Kwesi Botchwey. Why is he doing it underground? We all know what he is doing.?

Ahwoi pledged that the people Dr Asamoah invited to his house to discuss his support for Dr Botchwey had been exposing him. According to Ahwoi, close associates of Dr Asamoah have confirmed that he is campaigning for Dr Botchwey.

Ahwoi however, stated boldly that he supports Professor Mills. ?Infact, I come from the same constituency with Dr Botchwey. We all come from the Agona East constituency. I have spoken to Kwesi Botchwey since he returned from the US. I told him frankly that I don?t support him and he says yes, he is quite certain that if he had come earlier and made his announcement early, I would have supported him. But I told him that I wouldn?t have supported him,? he said,

Ahwoi added that immediately he finished speaking, he would go to the Agona constituency to campaign against Kwesi Botchwey. ?I don?t think anybody can intimidate or issue any threat against me from any quarter,? he confidently told the Radio Gold presenter.

Ahwoi refuted a newspaper allegation that Dr Botchwey appointed him as CEPS Commissioner during the PNDC era and was dismissed for non-performance. According to him, he had never been a CEPS Commissioner. ?I was made the PNDC Secretary for Revenue in 1986. My position was equal to that of Dr Botchwey, who was then the PNDC Secretary for Finance. My record is there, anybody can look at it.?

?When I was the PNDC Secretary for Revenue, I did so well to improve revenue mobilisation. In fact, I did it so well that the World Bank institutionalised a revenue secretariat or revenue board and people I trained were taken to Uganda, Angola, Central and East Africa. Some of them are still there. They have set up various revenue boards, which have improved revenue collection,? he said.