Blows Over 'Blood Money� �NDC Executive Stabbed, Others Injured

The confirmation of Dr. Kwaku Owusu-Acheampong as the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the New Juabeng Assembly, on Wednesday, took a dramatic twist, as supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) turned the Assembly premises into a boxing ring. Prior to the confirmation, news went round that supporters of the President�s nominee and Mr. Ransford Owusu Boakye, the Eastern Regional Coordinator of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), who was alleged to be the people�s choice but was �robbed�, were preparing for a showdown. Following this, the Municipal Police Command dispatched over 50 police personnel to the venue, in order to avert a bloody clash between the two groups, but the bellicose supporters defied the heavy security presence, and went on with their intended fight. In the process, Richard Nyarko, Koforidua Tertiary Education Institution Network (TEIN) executive and supporter of the MCE, allegedly stabbed and subjected the New Juaben South Constituency Secretary, Mr. Foster Tetteh, and a government appointee at the Assembly, to severe beatings. It all started after the MCE had been endorsed by the Assembly in a drama, where the assembly members sympathetic towards the New Patriotic Party (NPP) asked the NDC members to give them (NPP) the Presiding Member (PM) position in order to endorse the MCE. Agreeing to the �power sharing� pact, the NDC candidate, who was contesting for the PM position, was asked to step down for the NPP candidate, Boadi Sarpong, Assembly Member for Old Estate, which he did, making the NPP candidate subsequently win the position. Supporters of the confirmed MCE, upon hearing that their �darling boy� had been confirmed, started jubilating amidst singing and the casting of innuendos against the local NADMO boss, who was also eyeing the post. This development raised tensions, because the supporters of the NADMO boss were not happy with the conduct of their colleagues. Giving the details of the incident, Mr. Tetteh said because of the sharp division among party members within the municipality over the President�s nominee, the Deputy Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, Antwi Boasiako, called on all the government appointees, prior to the confirmation, to put their differences behind them, and endorse the President�s nominee, which they resolved to do. He said they (government appointees) were offered GH�500 each after the election, whilst the elected assembly members were given GH�1,000 to endorse the president�s nominee. According to him, he was in the Assembly Hall with the constituency chairmen for both New Juaben North and South, when the Regional Youth Organiser, Kwaku Asamoah, started lambasting him that he (Foster) was a bastard, and that he took money from Dr. Owusu-Acheampong, but did not vote for him. The Constituency Secretary said he did not take kindly to the attack by his regional boss, and asked him to stop, since the confirmation was over, and that there was the need to put their differences behind them and develop the municipality. He noted that, as if it was a well-rehearsed plan, Fiifi Amakye, Assembly Member for the Klu-Town Electoral Area, Richard Nyarko, Koforidua TEIN executive Michael Odei Fadi, and another person, who he could give his name, attacked him. He explained that his attackers claimed he did not vote for Dr. Owusu-Acheampong, but took the GH�500 that was given to them, with the assurance that he (Foster) would vote for him (Dr. Owusu-Acheampong). �My brother, these young energetic men started manhandling me like the way thieves are manhandled. I was pulled here and there; it was not easy at all. They dipped their hands into my pocket and took away all the money I had on me,� he said. He stated that at the time of the attack, he was having a bunch of keys in his hands, so he stabbed Richard with it, in what he described as �complete self-defense.� Richard, who was also holding a sharp object, retaliated by cutting his forefinger. According to him, but for the timely intervention of the police, he would have been killed by his attackers. When this reporter called Fiifi Amakye, one of the alleged attackers, for his side of the story, he said, �Please I am at an executive meeting and I cannot talk now, give me 40 minutes, I will call back.� After the 40 minutes, when he did not call back, this reporter, once again, called him, but he did not pick the call this time round. Mr. Kwaku Asamoah, when contacted, also denied insulting the Constituency Secretary, but indicated it was the Secretary who first attacked the young men, and not as narrated by the former. Meanwhile, Dr. Owusu-Acheampong has called on all supporters of the party within the municipality to put the past behind them, and put their shoulders to the wheel to develop the area. He has also called on Mr. Ransford Owusu Boakye and Livingston Asamoah who were selected, including him, to the party headquarters, but were not nominated, to support him develop the municipality, since the development of the municipality was paramount. �When we have the same objective, and we set objectives for ourselves, we will be able to achieve them. So I want everybody, especially the people of my party, to bury all differences, come together, work together, and deliver together,� he advised.