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General News of Wednesday, 9 November 2005

Source: Dominic Jale&Amponsah Boakye (The Sun)

Horror At NDC Headquarters

....Attempt to Finish off Frances Asiam backfires.

Heckling, bickering, insults and assault took the central stage of the Kokomlemle head office of the largest opposition party NDC last Tuesday when a section of the women organizers of the party met with Ms Frances Ewurabena Asiam national women organizer.

The NDC party that is struggling to snatch power from the incumbent NPP come 2008 general elections seems to deepen its internal conflicts at every instance.

The women who stormed at the party's headquarters with intention of solving once what's now known as Frances Asiam's bombshell turned the scene to a battle field but interestingly while others where calling for the blood and removal of Ms.Asiam from office other women were firing out their financial grieves as that they could no longer enjoy their allowance for attending meetings.

The occasion was all-women affairs when a section of the party's women organizers assembled at the head office to tackle and if possible toppled Ms Frances Ewurabena Asiam over her bombshell during a radio interview, which has dented the image of the founder of the party Ex-President J.J. Rawlings. When The Sun reporters who were holding interview at a near by residence to the head office got to the scene it was an eye saw and horrific as party member were each other throat in a hot exchange of unprintable words against others.

The pandemonium that ensured before and after the meeting marred a simple meeting that that was to resolve impasse between the national women organizer and the founder of the party.

The meeting, which could be described as well attended, started attracting organizers around 12 noon. As the organizers arrived at the party office some could not hold their peace to come to terms with Asiam decided to descend heavily on the founder of the party.

They accused the national women organizer of selling top guided party secrets to the public and as a result should be removed from the office with immediate effect but other held a different view when they defended her. Those who chose to defend her directed their attacked on the editor of the party's propaganda newspaper The National Democratic, for irritating the party members.

According to these organizers the national women organizer and other top party members had consistently been attacked by the paper to the limit that some of them could not tolerate but to set the records straight, hence Asiam's decision expose the secret.

When tempers were finally calmed down, the group went into the hall of the party office and held the meeting assuming that all were over but they emerged from the meeting with brutal assaults on the members which attracted more people at the premises to make mockery of the party's level of understanding and their reactions to self criticisms.

This time around, worse things were members exchanged. "Frances contested elections and won her post whoever want to take over from her should wait and go through the right channel and stop organizing people to remove someone who is duly elected," one of the organizer was heard screaming in heated argument.

The hospitality at the party offices attracted quite a number of audients who dashed to the place to catch a glimpse of the unfolding drama. Before one could say jack some of the organizers started creaming and chanting war songs as 'Tsoo-oo-oo-boi' with its usual response 'yei' from wild looking women and youth. The next thing that The Sun could hear was Efie wura antu a kramo be tu.

At this point the pandemonium broke out which nearly resulted into free for all fight as member's insult and assults among themselves. While a section of the organizers were rooting all the way for Madam Frances Asiam, others were seriously condemning her for going public on what they saw as top secret.

"You see that is what would happen to NDC some of us have been with JJ since 1979's till today but nobody has recognized our efforts to reward us but immediately some people who joined the party in 1990's emerged as leaders and have been rewarded with posts" a woman organizer who hails from Fadama area in Accra stated.

As they argued among themselves a fairly looking young man and a driver at the party headquarters who attempted to intervene were slapped by one of the women's organizers.

"I strongly believe that our organizers had been provoked for far too long if not that she would not have revealed what she said', as the school kids including these reporters who were holding some business discussion around the area stood aloof, one insider asked "is this how the NDC is going to be?"

Another organizer who could not come to terms with what was happening ran from the meeting place and kneeled down in front of the party office with her arms stretched towards the skies and screaming that she would lave the party should they continue to create useless confusion among the leadership. It would be recalled that the national women organizer madam Frances Ewurabena Asiam in a radio interview some where last week made series of revelation against the founder of the party Ex-President J J Rawlings and his special aid Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith for assigning her to attack and tarnish the image of some government officials.

The insiders told the paper that the meeting was also to put the fears of God into the national women organizer but the move backfired. "I have no time to waste on this issue if Frances Asiam is what we are going to discuss then I am going home we were asked to come hear but I was not told what we were going to do only for them to bring this issue out for discussion", she told The Sun.