MP for Bantama and Santasi assemblyman brutalised

Kumasi, Sept. 17, GNA - Dr R. W. Anane, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama, on Thursday held a press conference in Kumasi to give details about how Nana Akwasi Agyeman, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, allegedly ordered thugs to beat him up.

Dr Anane alleged that Nana Akwasi Agyeman ordered thugs to assualt him and Mr Agyeman Pambour, Assemblyman for Santasi on Monday at the premises of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in Kumasi.

He said he has lodged a complaint with the Police and appealed to President Jerry John Rawlings to intervene to ensure that justice is done without delay.

The MP said he has also reported the matter to Mr Kojo Yankah, Ashanti Regional Minister. New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament in the Metropolis and supporters of the Party attended the press conference Addressing the conference, Dr Anane said he was informed on that fateful Monday, that Mr Pambuor, had been assaulted by some thugs at the GNFS, near the KMA without any provocation.

The MP said he decided to seek Police assistance to rescue Mr Pambuor, who called him on his mobile phone to direct him to where he was hiding.

After locating Mr Pambuor, with the assistance of a Police officer, they went to the GNFS premises to convey Mr Pambuor's car, whose tyres were deflated by the thugs.

While there with a vulcanzer, who was inflating the tyres and in the presence of the Police officer, Nana Akwasi Agyeman led a gang to physically assault the vulcanizer and Mr Pambuor.

Dr Anane said in his attempt to request an explanation for the attack, "Nana Akwasi Agyeman visibly rained insults on me and personally man-handled me and grabbed my spectacles and then ordered that I also be beaten up".

The MP said, even though, he shouted out his identity to his, assailants, it was to no avail as, "I was brutally beaten till I collapsed and nearly strangulated with my shirt".

Dr Anane said when he re-gained consciousness he saw the vulcanizer and Mr Pambuor being led away by the gang of assailants. Then in pain, he took a taxi and got to the Central Police Station, where he lodged a complaint.

Contributing at the conference, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, MP for Manhyia, condemned the act and gave the assurance that all the NPP MPs in the region and members of the party were solidly behind Dr Anane in his quest for immediate justice on the incident.

He mentioned legal, political and administrative actions as some of the moves that "the party and its membership would have to resort to in order to secure justice in this particular case".

Mr Osei Kwaku, MP for Asokwa West, said the Party's desire for peace in the system does not give anybody the licence to intimidate its members even to the point of beating MPs, adding that nobody could claim to ever have monopoly over violence.