By Gifty Arthur

While the Mills administration has been urging all to meet their taxes obligations, and going round the world soliciting for financial support for developmental projects, some members of the ruling party are busily stabbing the government in the back by being unpatriotic.

The chairman of the North Dayi Constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta Region, Colonel (Rtd) Nathanial Kpikpitse, is one of such people, as he was last week caught by none other than his niece stealing chippings meant for the Accra-Vakpo-Kpando road.

According to the relative, Miss Grace Payimuka, the chairman was last Wednesday seen collecting huge quantities of the chippings being used for the resurfacing of the Vakpo township roads for his private use.

Since 2006, the road had become very unsuitable for motorists, and the chippings had been gathered since 2008 to fill potholes, pending a planned massive road rehabilitation. But the retired army officer was seen busily using the chippings to renovate the broken wall around his house at Vakpo- EP Kpodzi.

Upon interrogation, Col. Kpikpitse told his niece (Grace) that he was not collecting the chippings for his personal use but rather, it was being collected to construct a structure for the entire town.

But in a telephone conversation with The Herald last Wednesday, Col. Kpikpitse expressed surprise at the matter, denying knowledge of the report and insisted that although he is constructing a wall around his house; neither he nor the builders had touched the said materials.

“I had masons in my house today, but I never took chippings from anywhere,” he said. Instead, he said, the chippings which were being used for his wall were bought by the masons from a nearby town.

He said though he spent some time in Kpando, and so was not home the entire day, nobody among his masons could have conducted himself this way by stealing the chippings.

However, in an interview with Miss Payimuka, she insisted that she saw her uncle collecting the chippings and confronted him over his selfish conduct, after which she reported him to the NDC deputy women’s organizer in the constituency, Vida Ofori, the same day. She disclosed that deep into night last Wednesday, the ex-military man continued the act.

She said to prevent anybody from noticing what he was doing, Col. Kpikpitse on the said night put off all the lights in his house when he collected the material.

For questioning his father’s conduct, a son of the NDC chairman confronted Miss Payimuka for reporting his father to the police, which she vehemently denied. Grace told The Herald that she has reported the matter to the aspiring New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Mr. Ken Anku, an Accra legal practitioner.

When contacted, Mr. Anku confirmed hearing about the issue, and mentioned “right opposite the Vokpo Police Station” as being the place from where the material is being stolen.

Mr. Anku said he hopes to have the incident investigated. He plans to formally report the NDC chairman to the Kpando District Police for charges to be leveled against him after it is established he, indeed, stole chippings that might benefit the people.