Francis Boateng
The Assembly Member for Asekyerewa/Bodwease Electoral Area in the Kumawu Sekyere district, Francis Boateng, has called on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) hierarchy to launch a full-scale investigation into alleged threats issued by Mr. Joseph Danso, Kumawu Constituency Chairman, against the President.
He also called for sanctions against the party chairman, who is said to have dared the President to nominate the Presiding Member of the local assembly, Mr. Samuel Addai Agyekum, as was being speculated.
A secret recording of a meeting by the embattled constituency chairman reveals that he had spent about GH¢70,000 to organise the electioneering campaign in the constituency, culminating in the victory of the NPP, hence he has a stake in the choice of the DCE.
Mr. Danso is also on record to have said the Presiding Member was not involved in the campaign, and so will not have to reap where he did not sow, daring His Excellency the President, amid threats, to nominate any person for the post of DCE for the Sekyere Kumawu district without his consent.
The Asekyerewa/Bodease Electoral Area representative said the chairman’s actions tend to undermine the powers of the President, disturb the peace within the country and the constituency, as well as tarnishing the image of the nation and the constituency in the eyes of the foreign press, hence the call for sanctions against him to let peace prevail in the party.
According to him, the Chairman’s conduct and threat of organising demonstrators against the choice of the President of Ghana to be the Kumawu DCE will create unnecessary political tension and total chaos in the Kumawu township and its environs, at great cost to the nation, if not checked.
The Assembly Member queried: “With this bad agenda planned by the Chairman, what does he also expect from the other side of the political divide in the constituency, if their choice of candidate is also not appointed by His Excellency the President?”
Mr. Boateng noted that he does not see why the party chairman should not be probed and sanctioned, if top national executives of the party have been sanctioned, to bring sanity to the party and lead to the eventual electoral victory.
He noted that the good people of Ghana voted massively for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on the basis of their belief in his integrity and sense of judgment, hence the need for the citizenry in general, and members of New Patriotic Party in particular, to trust his acumen in choosing the team he will be comfortable working with, in his effort to change the fortunes of this country.
Francis Boateng has, accordingly, condemned the Constituency Chairman’s statement without any reservation, and urged colleague assembly members to continue to work together in unity and peace, to promote development in all the towns and villages in the Sekyere Kumawu District.
Mr. Danso has, however, debunked the allegations, describing them as lies, and that the recording of a meeting he had with party members was doctored.
According to him, some elders in the party are supporting the candidature of undeserving persons as DCE, hence moves to sow seeds of discord between him, the party hierarchy, and the President.
He questioned why he, as constituency party chairman, should attack the President he had worked and campaigned for to victory.
