All is Calm in Wa

Wa is calm contrary to reports received earlier on Thursday, which said that National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters and those of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were heading for a confrontation.

The first report said tension was building up in Wa following an alleged directive given by the Regional Minister Mr Shahanun Mogtari to Mr Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader in Parliament, to stop a radio programme he was doing for which he had paid for the air time.

The report said Mr Mogtari ordered that Mr Bagbin should not be allowed to carry on with the programme at the local Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) radio station and that if he did not leave the studio he would use any means to get him out.

Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, NDC Lawra-Nandom, broke the news to newsmen at the end of a press conference the NDC held in Accra. Dr Kunbuor said he had just received a telephone call from Wa indicating that tension was building up at the local F.M. station since supporters of the two parties were massing up at the station.

He said Mr Bagbin was insisting that he had paid for the programme but the Regional Minister was also threatening that if Mr Bagbin did not stop the programme, he would get him out of the studio.

However, when the Ghana News Agency called the Regional Minister, he explained that he just phoned in to a radio programme Mr Bagbin was doing to correct a statement he made.

He said the Presenter of the programme told him that there was not enough time and it was upon that he said that if there was not enough time then Mr Bagbin should also be made to stop.

When the Ghana News Agency called the Local Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Station, that hosted the programme, two presenters, who did not want to be identified, said even though they did not like the intrusion by the Regional Minister, since Mr Bagbin had bought the airtime, there was no tension in the town and supporters of the two parties have not massed up.