Factions in Akyem Oda NPP clash

There was mayhem at Akyem Oda, the capital of the Birim South district, last Friday, when 90 of the 109 polling station chairpersons of the Oda constituency branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) stormed the constituency headquarters in the town to hammer big nails into the doors to lock it up.

The 90 incensed chairmen and women had armed themselves dangerously with wood logs and planks they had picked from a nearby sawmill to crush any resistance to their agenda of locking up the offices. According to them, they had been informed that some people who were against their action were planning a counter-action by mobilizing security personnel and hirelings to stop them.

Before embarking on this action, the angry chairpersons forced out some constituency executives who were preparing to hold a meeting.

The constituency executives: Alhaji Ismaila Ibrahim, constituency secretary; Alex Amoa-Sakyi, 1st vice chairman; Kwaku Oteng, 2nd vice chairman; Isaac Owusu Acheampong, assistant youth organizer; and Kwaku Ofosu, assistant organizer, who were said to be waiting for the other executives to hold a meeting called by the constituency chairman, Rockson Kwame Ofori, had to leave the precincts of the office to avoid confrontation between them and the enraged chairpersons.

According to the chairpersons, they had passed a vote of no confidence in three of the constituency executives since June 7, this year, but had not got any favourable response from either the party's regional secretariat at Koforidua or the National Secretariat and, therefore, would not allow the "dismissed" executives to hold onto their positions to hold any meeting in the name of the party.

The three embattled executives are the constituency chairman, Rockson Kwame Ofori; assistant secretary, Osman Sintim and Antwi Boasiako, the constituency organiser.

The resolution backing the vote of no confidence in the trio was signed by 87 out of the 109, representing 69% of all the chairpersons, and it was addressed to the constituency executives, copied to the Eastern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Yaw Gyekye Amoabeng, the member of Parliament for Akyem Oda, Yaw Osafo Maafo, and the Birim South District Chief Executive, Kwame Busumtwi.

Some of the charges were that the trio were not faithful and honest to the constituents; they were alleged to have embezzled funds meant for the party operations and for some executives.

They were also accused of fraudulent conduct, creating of discord and factionalism among constituency executives and other members, intimidating and threatening of some members and officers of the constituency for questioning their conduct, among others.

The chairmen and women further stated that their move to sack the three had been boosted following the accusation of Antwi Bosiako and Sintim of the fraudulent act of inserting some ghost names into the list of pupil teachers employed under the National Youth Employment Programme.

The resolution stated that the alleged actions of the three executives constituted gross misconduct as specified under Article 4 (7) of the NPP constitution.

The chairman who was absent at last Friday's abortive meeting though he was the convener, said that he had travelled to Accra and was on his way back to meet his colleagues at the party office only to hear of the incident.

Some of the party members, however, insisted that he was in town but deliberately stayed away from the meeting when he heard the intended action of the polling station chairpersons.

The Birim South DCE, Kwame Busumtwi, denied any knowledge about the incident and promised to contact other leading figures in the town to see what could be done.

Regional Chairman Yaw Amoabeng explained that the regional executives could not act on the resolution promptly as was expected by the chairpersons because there was no laid down procedure which needed to be followed to ensure peace and harmony among members.

He, however, gave assurance that the regional office was doing its best to act on the matter by using the party's constitutional structures and requirements.

Mr. Amoabeng appealed to all the contending parties to exercise restraint and allow the appropriate authorities to solve the problem.

"Oda is one of the NPP strongholds and dear to the heart of the party, so we will try to resolve the impasse as soon as possible," he stated.

Member of Parliament Osafo Maafo was said to have travelled outside the country when the incident took place.