Regional News of Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Source: Daily Guide

NDC chairman owes ‘waakye’ seller GH¢4,000

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that a court in Takoradi has ordered the sale of the residence of Mohammed Alidu, the Effia Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Western Region, to defray a debt he owes a popular “Waakye” seller in Takoradi called ‘One in Town.’

According to sources, during the 2010 biometric registration exercise, the NDC chairman allegedly bought “Waakye” from ‘One in Town’ on credit to feed the party’s polling agents who were assigned to monitor the various polling stations in the constituency.

A source within the ruling NDC in the Effia constituency told DAILY GUIDE that the constituency NDC chairman was indebted to the tune of over GH¢4,000 at the end of the exercise.

Reports said the constituency chairman allegedly failed to settle his indebtedness.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that efforts by the popular Waakye seller, One in Town to retrieve her money from the Effia NDC chairman proved futile and so she initiated legal action against the chairman.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Nii Markwei Dawda, the Propaganda Secretary of Kwesimintsim Constituency confirmed the story and expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Effia NDC chairman.

He alleged that during the 2010 biometric registration exercise, Effia and Kwesimitsim were under a constituency and that the national executives of the party gave the constituency an amount of GH¢24,000.00 to be used to cater for the needs of the party’s polling agents assigned to the various registration centres.

According to him, the money was supposed to be used for the purchase of food for the party’s constituency agents, among other things.

“So I can’t fathom why Mr. Alidu could owe the Waakye seller a whopping GH¢4,000,” he indicated.

He told DAILY GUIDE that the constituency chairman had suggested at certain quarters that proceeds from a public toilet under the management of the Kwesimitsim branch of the party should be used to defray the debt, adding that he would fiercely resist any attempt by Mr. Alidu to get the toilet money.

He explained that the proceeds from the public toilet given to the constituency by the Sekondi-Takoradi assembly were used to manage the constituency office.

When DAILY GUIDE called the Effia constituency chairman of the NDC, he indicated that he was in a meeting.

However, speaking to KYZZ FM in Takoradi, the Effia constituency chairman of the NDC revealed that the money released to the Effia-Kwesimitsim constituency during the 2010 biometric registration exercise to cater for the needs of the polling agents was insufficient.

He indicated that there were 96 polling stations in the constituency and that each of polling station had two party agents, adding “the exercise was also done in 40 days”.

He mentioned that because the money was insufficient, he had to use his funds to properly take care of the polling agents.

“I needed to be there for them. At a point I became sick and so I could not pay for the Waakye we credited. I then suggested we use the proceeds from the public toilet to pay the woman, but some people within the party did not agree,” he added.