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General News of Thursday, 16 March 2006

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle

Obed?s DFP floundering ...

OBED?S DFP HITS HARD ROCKS
? ?All Obed did was to buy palm wine for the youth in Likpe'
? But he says they should wait and see

A few days after Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, the former national chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had announced the floating of his new party - Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) - reports have revealed that the party is beginning to flounder even before it touched the deep waters.

This paper has learnt that the former chairman made contact with Dr. P.A. Kuranchie, former Managing Director of Agricultural Development Bank, now Chief Executive of Kasapreko, Mr. Anthony Forson, former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Nana Ampofu Adjei, a former member of Council of State and a host of NDC gurus in the Central, Western and Brong Ahafo regions, to poach them for his new party but, their responses have been negative.

According to the reports, Dr. Kuranchie was the first to damn the decision of his former boss, telling him in plain language that he was not interested in the formation of a new party.

Dr. Obed Asamoah has however stated emphatically that he was not bothered with the comments made or published in ?Ghana Palaver? to the effect that he was given a rebuff when he approached some influential people, including the above-mentioned, towards the strengthening of his party.

?I don?t want to waste time on unnecessary and irrelevant issues. I don?t want to waste time on nonsense. They should wait and see what would happen to them,? obviously referring to the NDC.

He stated further that he has since not seen Mr. Forson and has not even visited Brong Ahafo, let alone talk to Nana Ampofu Adjei. Nevertheless, the DFP founder was quick to admit that he had spoken with Dr. Kuranchie.

?Do they know the number of people that I have talked to? Or they don?t want me to talk to anybody?? he asked, adding that during a discussion with Dr. Kuranchie, the latter prevailed upon him to back down on his decision to form the new party.

Dr. Asamoah, a key figure in the formation of DFP, noted that he disagreed with the proposal of Dr. Kuranchie. He told this paper that he would surprise his detractors when he officially outdoors his party, because hundreds of people have joined his political bandwagon already.

When the paper drew his attention to a column in Ghana Palaver named, ?Odikro wants to know,? Dr. Asamoah said, ?It is time Palaver was exposed.?

The former NDC chairman did not disclose how the paper would be exposed, except that he rejected and rubbished the publications in the paper.

Sources close to Obed Asamoah said many who have approached him disagreed with their former boss and condemned him over what they described as ?his intransigent position?.

Nana Ampofu Adjei has denied ever being approached by the leader of DFP, saying it was a personal matter. When reached by this reporter, he said he does not want to belong to any party, adding that he wants to be treated as a statesman.

Efforts to reach the others were not successful by press time.

This paper has learnt that even though the DFP is gaining credence especially in Accra, a youth group, precisely from Likpe, has cautioned Dr. Obed Asamoah about his conduct.

In a statement captioned, ?Likpe Youth Tell Obed to Keep Away?, signed by one Mr. Philip Dzamboe, just after the resignation of Dr. Obed Asamoah from the NDC, the group said, ?The above-mentioned association met on Sunday 27th of January at Likpe to make a strong decision that Dr. Obed Asamoah should not bring any new party to our area because of the following reasons.?

?We arrived at this decision because he was a prominent member of the NDC government for a long time but failed to bring any purposeful development to the area. Everybody from the area who was associated with Dr. Asamoah has rejected him from today. He would not do anything in helping you to develop.

?All he did was to buy palm-wine for the youth. ?it is a pity that people are still seen associating with him. He is not going to help them in any way. We the youth, therefore, are warning him that we will resist any attempt to bring any party to the area. He only thinks of his immediate family,? the statement concluded.