NPP mad at Chronicle

NEW PATRIOTIC Party (NPP) gurus in the Ashanti Region have taken exception to a publication in last Thursday’s edition of the Chronicle newspaper which accused President Kufuor of ordering selected constituency chairmen to vote massively for Mr. Alan Kyerematen, a contender in the party’s flagbearership race.

The executives, led by the Regional Minister, Hon. E.A Owusu-Ansah, flatly denied that President Kufuor had held a secret meeting with them in Kumasi where he ordered them to ensure that Mr. Alan Kyerematen won the flagbearership race at the December 22 national delegates’ conference of the party.

Expressing misgivings about the publication at a news conference, Hon. Owusu-Ansah, who doubles as the MP for Kwabre West, said the executives whose names appeared in the story were so peeved that they had resolved to drag the Chronicle to a court of law to seek redress.

The minister explained that they organized the conference without the consent of either the President or Mr. Alan Kyerematen.

The intended court action, according to Hon. Owusu-Ansah, was based on the fact that the publication was a deliberate attempt by the newspaper to dent their image and lower their estimation in the eyes of the public.

"We are not against press freedom but we cannot gloss over gutter journalism when a reporter files a story without cross checking for confirmation and authenticity," he stated.

The minister pointed out that the repeal of the criminal libel law, which had hitherto gagged free expression and muzzled the press, by the Kufuor government on assumption of office, was not to guarantee the freedom to injure, ridicule and malign others.

"The intention of government was, and still is, to create the foundations for good governance and the attainment of personal freedom," he said.

The executives, who were said to have gone to greet the President at the presidential lodge on the premises of the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council, included Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, who is also the acting Ashanti Regional chairman of the NPP and Messrs Henry Kwabena Kokofo, Moses Donkor, George Kofi Adjei, Nana Adu Asabre and Asare Bediako, all NPP constituency chairmen.

Mr. Owusu-Ansah denied that Mr. D.K. Adusei and Nana Osei Mensah, NPP constituency chairmen for Kumawu and Manhyia respectively were at the so-called meeting, adding that the two did not go to the residency at all.

Expressing shock at the inclusion of their names in the publication, the two men pledged to do everything possible to ensure that they were exonerated.

According to the minister, also at the residency to pay courtesy calls on President Kufuor last Tuesday, October 2 at about 10.00am were Madam Patricia Appiagyei, KMA boss; Mr. Sylvester Asare Owusu, CEO of Kumasi Asante Kotoko; Mr. Opoku Afriyie and Mr. Owusu, both of Kotoko.

The regional minister explained that although some of the President's guests went there in the company of others, they all had their own reasons for wanting to see the President.

Hon. Owusu-Ansah said all the guests were in the sitting room together and at no point did the President order the constituency chairmen to vote massively for Alan Kyerematen.

According to him, the President only talked about his recent trip to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and how Ghana's Sovereign Bond Road Show was so highly patronized that it exceeded the $750 million target set by government to hit $3.2 billion.

The minister quoted President Kufuor as saying that good governance and proper management of the economy had boosted the confidence of investors in the country.

He said the President encouraged the chairmen present to propagate the good works of the government in their various constituencies and ensure that the NPP wins the 2008 elections to build on the solid foundation he had laid.