Angry Manhyia market women declare 'We will change the NPP' as they call for Wontumi's head

Some women trader groups in the Ashanti Region have taken to the streets of Manhyia, in anger, to protesting against the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known popularly as Chairman Wontumi.

According to them, they want the NPP Chairman banned indefinitely from entering the Manhyia Palace of the Ashanti Kingdom, days after it was reported that Wontumi blatantly challenged the authority of the Otumfuo without any provocation..

The protest took place at the Regional House of Chiefs, close to the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, with these women wielding Asanteman flags amidst the chanting of war songs.

Their message was clear: "we don’t want Wontumi anywhere near the Manhyia Palace."

One of the leaders of the group described the situation as one that has angered them so much that they no longer want to hear anything that Chairman Wontumi is the leader of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region.

She added that the fact that the NPP has not even brought the region any substantial development is the reason they will also vote against the party during the general elections of December 2024.

“We no longer want Wontumi as our chairman in Asanteman so he should go. He should pack up and leave… and even the NPP’s coming has not been beneficial to Asanteman and so we would change them…

“… Asanteman is NPP’s stronghold but they have not helped us at all…” she lamented.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, is said to have allegedly said that he has "built my own kingdom, I have my own police and military, and I will speak my mind to Otumfuo if I disagree on an issue with him."

These comments were made during the Ashanti regional vetting of parliamentary candidate aspirants.