Baba Jamal on fire

Baba Jamal, Member of Parliament for Akwatia in the Eastern Region, who doubles as the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, has been accused by some of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) constituency executives of “hijacking the party in his own interest,” which they claim had brought divisions among them.

The executives, who are vying for the constituency elections with other contestants, as gathered by DAILY GUIDE, had been divided into two factions, with Baba Jamal’s group allegedly being led by the Constituency Chairman, Mr. Cephas Wutor.

David Dakudzi, Constituency Youth Organiser, at a press briefing, noted that Baba Jamal was undermining the image of the party, adding that this could cause it its parliamentary seat in the 2016 general elections.

He accused the MP of taking away the money that accrued from a fundraising after the 2012 elections, meant to support the branch executives and the grassroots.

David Dakudzi, former supporter of Baba Jamal, who is still contesting the Youth Organiser race with other three contenders, told this paper, ”Baba has hijacked the party; he controls the affairs of the party here, and instructs the chairman to do what would favour him [Baba].”

The firebrand NDC stalwart alleged that even if the chairman wanted to attend a funeral, the MP had to permit him.

According to Mr. Dakudzi, the MP had bribed some of the delegates to vote against those not on his side.

DAILY GUIDE has learnt that the angry youth had been marshalling themselves to demonstrate against the MP in the coming days.

Due to the allegation about bribery, most of the constants vying for the NDC constituency executive positions have put numerous inscriptions on their campaign posters such as, ”NDC is not for sale.”

The Akwatia MP, when contacted by DAILY GUIDE via telephone, failed to comment on the matter.

He responded, ”My brother, I have no comment on this matter, and can’t give you any assurance until further notice. You can go ahead and publish it,” adding that “This is not the first time they are doing that against me. They go on Oman FM, Demkyembour FM and other radio stations to bash me, but I told them I had no comment to made; time will tell.”

Constituencies such as Atiwa East and West and New Juaben North, have so far elected their executives.