Asantehene's bribery allegation is intended to destroy NPP - Balado Manu

Former Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South, Stephen Balado Manu, has alleged that the New Free Press publication about Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is a deliberate attempt to destroy the strong base of the opposition NPP in the Ashanti Region.

According to Balado Manu, it is a known fact that the NPP draws its large votes from the Ashanti Region and so any attack on the Asantehene relating to the just ended 2012 election petition will mean that the opposition NPP is fomenting trouble which will intend affect the relationship between the party and the Manhyia Palace.

Speaking on Okay FM, the former NPP MP said that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is highly respected for his educational projects which are not limited to only the Ashanti Region, but other parts of the country; as such “any attack on him if the allegation is linked to the NPP to be responsible for the New Free Press publication will reduce the support base of NPP in Ashanti region”.

The New Free Press online recently published that the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, allegedly brokered a bribery deal between President Mahama and two of the nine Justices that sat on the 2012 election petition case.

The publication triggered Chiefs at Manhyia Palace in the Ashanti Region to lodge a formal complaint to the National Media Commission (NMC) to haul the editor and publisher of the Free Press Newspaper to retract the “malicious allegations” of bribery against the Asantehene.

He however said that the publication about the Asantehene is in line with the allegation which is meant to foment trouble in the Ashanti Region to break the stronghold of the NPP.

He therefore appealed to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II not to relent on his effort to investigating the matter to the end in order to ensure sanity in the Ashanti region and redeem the image of the Ashanti Kingdom.