General News of Tuesday, 2 October 2018

Source: peacefmonline.com

Don’t dare me - Ashanti Regional Minister to NDC

Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei Mensah has sounded a note of caution to members of the NDC in the Ashanti Region to cease creating further chaotic scenes in the region or face his wrath.

He says the region has enjoyed relative peace for sometime now and would not trade that peace for anything.

He was speaking to Okay FM’s Kwame Nkrumah "Tikesie" on the "Ade Akye Abia" programme regarding a near-violent incident that took place at Asawasi over the weekend, which the Regional Minister lays blame at the doorstep of the former President.

"You know, a day before the function, I had an intelligence that the youth of the area will misbehave so I informed the 4BN Military Command to dispatch his men to the area to avert any confrontation.

But I am warning the NDC in the Ashanti Region not to try to do anything that will subvert my authority or cause chaos in the region, I will continue to safeguard the peace....and nobody would be allowed to disturb the peace in the region," he vowed.

What was meant to be a peaceful funeral service for the late Gonja Chief of Asawase in the Ashanti Region, and the enstoolment of a new Gonja King almost turned bloody.

The cause of the misunderstanding is not yet known, but reports say it took the presence of the heavy military presence at the place to calm both parties down.

Earlier on the same OkayFM platform, the Minority Chief Whip and MP for Asawase, Hon. Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak had berated the Regional Minister over the incident.

Describing the Hon Simon Osei as a "poor communicator who is narrow-minded and lacks the managerial skills" to run the region, the NDC MP admonished him (Regional Minister) to exercise restraint in his conduct.

“I doubt whether the President has a checklist to know how the Regional Minister is running the place. He is not someone who can manage difficult situations...he does not know how to communicate properly; that is his problem. Even the 7 people who were killed in my constituency, check how he managed it; so poorly”, he chided.