<<Print>>

Bin Ladi, Chairman of the Tema East branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has accused the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, of ordering his macho-men to beat up the deputy Youth Organiser of the party, Eric Kwadwo Twumasi, for trying to stand in his way of getting his men elected as polling station executives of the party. The NPP chair alleged that macho-men, allegedly hired by the Tema East MP, on Sunday charged on Eric Kwadwo Twumasi, who is also the Assembly Member for the Harbour Electoral Area, and subjected him to severe beatings, adding that but for the timely intervention of some two assembly members and himself, Twumasi would have suffered a great deal of torture. Nii Kwartei Titus Glover has, however, denied all the allegations, saying they were calculated attempts to soil his hard-earned image as MP for the area. Narrating the incident to the paper at Tema on Tuesday, Asoma, who is also an Assembly Member for the Padmore electoral area, said over 600 nomination forms for the party�s upcoming polling station elections were brought to him, and he distributed them among party executives, including the MP, for onward distribution to prospective candidates, to enable them file their nominations. He continued that last Wednesday, the constituency was to call a meeting of all the polling station executives to discuss the upcoming elections, after which a date would be scheduled for the election itself, but the MP did not allow it to take place. The NPP chair, however, called an executive meeting on Wednesday, and it was agreed that all the forms be given to Twumasi to distribute to all and sundry who were interested, to contest the various positions at the various polling stations throughout the constituency, but Titus Glover and the first vice chairman of the party, Ofoe Teye, objected to it, because they claimed they did not have confidence in him, for the simple reason that they knew he had an interest in the election. On Saturday, another executive meeting was called by the chairman, and during deliberations to set a date for the closing of nominations, and when the elections would take place, again, the MP and the first vice chairman were not happy about it, and Titus Glover insisted that nominations had closed there and then. �But, as chairman of the party, I insisted that it will close at 6:00 p.m., and added that prospective candidates were to submit their forms by themselves, and not through the MP, after he had submitted about 250 forms, which he filled and signed by himself. �Then I asked at the meeting if they all went out there to educate the prospective candidates on the election, and they said no, and I said it would be unfair on our part not to educate the prospective candidates, and yet go ahead to close nominations for the elections,� he recounted. He explained that he had the full support of the constituency secretary, Charles Boateng, who said he would abide by whatever decision the meeting takes, in terms of fixing the date for the close of nominations, and the election itself. He said the secretary explained that they received over 600 nomination forms, and had distributed same, and so far about 250 had been submitted, leaving over 350 with the prospective candidates. �Our secretary noted that he had to go through all the forms, sign, and finally vet them before the election could take place, and he cannot do that over night, but the MP insisted the election should take place the following day, which led to an exchange of words between the secretary and the MP, compelling the MP to say that the election will come on,� Asoma added. The NPP chair continued that the following day, around 7:00 a.m., he had calls from party foot soldiers that the election was ongoing at all the polling stations in Tema Manhean, so he rushed there. He said, on arrival, he saw macho-men supervising the election and, therefore, called the deputy Youth Organiser to accompany him to go and stop the activity from taking place, but when they arrived at the Adjetey Ansah electoral area, they saw a macho-man, who they did not know in the party, supervising the election. Twumasi went there in an attempt to ask them to stop the election, but before he could make any comment, the macho-men present pounced on him and beat him up mercilessly, Asoma narrated. He further alleged that he heard the voice of the MP instructing the macho-men to discipline the deputy Youth Organiser, who, ostensibly, had become a pain in the MP�s neck, but for the timely intervention of two assembly members, namely Moses Hinson � Assembly member for Oninku electoral area, and Reuben Jefferson Ocansey and himself, Twumasi would have suffered a great deal of torture. Denying the allegations, Titus Glover noted that all they had said were not true, and that he had received information from his people on the ground that the two persons, and two others also in the party, were bent on doing everything within their powers to make him a one term MP, and he was positive that was the agenda they had set out to do. He explained that the party came out with modalities and a programme as to what should be done, and when it should be done, asking why the Regional Organiser of the party, Mr. Okyere Boakye, was detailed to supervise the election, if they did wrong. Speaking in a telephone interview, Titus Glover, who managed to win his seat by beating the former MCE of Tema, Kempes Ofosuware, by only three votes, said he knew of the plot by the constituency chairman, the deputy Youth Organiser, and one of the candidates they work for, to try and stop him from going for a second term, but he would do what he could to prevent them from destroying him. When contacted on phone to find out his opinion on the issue, since his name was mentioned in the case, the NPP constituency secretary, Mr. Charles Boateng, denied that there was any confusion during the election, let alone, the fact that the deputy Youth Organiser was beaten.