Brouhaha Over NDC Loans

THE NATIONAL Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower Manya constituency, Mr. Michael Nyannu, has invoked the gods on his party chairman Mr. Joseph Narh-Kwablah, for testifying against him in court.

Narh-Kwablah has been testifying for the MP's complainants, Michael Partey Samadji and Samuel Ayum Samadji, from whom Nyaunu allegedly collected loans to the tune of ?6 million to help him win the 1996 parliamentary elections and failed to pay back at the end of the elections.

Nyaunu allegedly collected the loan from these brothers (Partey and Ayum Samadji) in 1996 with the constituency chairman, Narh-Kwablah, serving as a witness in the transaction.

When Nyaunu won the election, he failed to pay back the loans, saying they were rather gifts to him for his use to win the election but were not loans.

This forced the party chairman to witness in court after the Samadji brothers had sent the case to court for settlement.

According to Chronicle sources at Odumase Nyaunu, realizing he was losing the case, invoked the god of thunder to kill Mr. Narh-Kwabla, at an executive meeting held on June 19, last year, when the loan issue was raised.

According to documents of the said executive meeting sighted by Chronicle, members asked that the scuffle between the chairman and the MP should be settled for them to be able to win the elections.

Nyaunu said he had nothing against the chairman as far as party organisation was concerned, but admitted that he was filing letters about the constituency on poor party organisation.

The MP made it clear that his personal differences with the chairman are outside the party's organisation.

His personal differences with the chairman, according to the documents sighted by the Chronicle, have to do with the false witness against him in court by the chairman.

Nyaunu, according to the documents, invoked the god of thunder, saying: "If what the chairman is saying in court against me is true, like Elijah on Mt. Carmel, let thunder strike me; I should be blind and suffer from stroke. But if mine is the truth, these things I have sworn to should settle the issue between us."

At these words, the whole House was thrown into disarray, for he said in the Krobo language: "Eka no E Kpale E nya," that is, he has invoked thunder and all must withdraw. However, all efforts to dissuade the MP to withdraw the invocation proved futile to this very date.

The court continued to hear the case after a five-member committee to withdraw the case from court failed to do so.

Nyaunu lost the case finally at the Appeal Court and was made to pay back the loans he described as gifts, with interest, all amounting to ?7,108,200, which payment was effected on April 26, this year at the Odumase circuit court.