Blows at Mahama’s dinner

A timely intervention by the personal security guards of President John Mahama averted what could have been free for all fight between the feuding factions in the politics of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Western Region.

This was at a dinner organized in honour of the president, who was on a tour of the region last week Thursday, at the Regional Coordinating Council.

It all started when one of the constituency executives from the Tarkwa Nsueam, Madam Gladys Adjei, reportedly whispered into the ears of the president, whilst going round shaking hands with the guests that they were not invited to the dinner, but they decided to come because they wanted to reveal certain information to him.

The Regional Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo and his Deputy, Alfred Ekow Gyan, who were leading the president to greet the guests, who were mainly constituency executives, took a serious exception to the claim made by Madam Gladys Adjei.

He subsequently warned the lady to sit down, because the dinner was not organized for the president to solve party problems.

The Chronicle established that the action of the minister to shut down the lady infuriated two other constituency executives who got up and shouted on top of their voices that, the president needed to know the problem pertaining in the party.

The two executives – Messrs. Isaac Tetteh and the deputy Youth organizer of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency accused the Regional Minister in the presence of president Mahama that he (Minister) was the source of the problem in the constituency and that the president was the right person to be apprised of the negative happenings in the party in the constituency.

The Chronicle further gathered that some of the supporters of the minister, who thought the Tarkwa-Nsuaem executives of the party, had embarrassed the minister in the presence of the president rushed on them to teach them a lesson. The deputy regional Women Organizer, Madam Araba Tagoe, however, intervened.

The action of Araba Tagoe surprisingly incurred the wrath of Kurk Mensah, deputy Propaganda Secretary, who reportedly threatened to slap her for going to the rescue of the executives.

The hot verbal exchanges between the two regional executives belonging to two separate camps, which have emerged in the party, attracted the security guards of the president, who swiftly intervened to save the two from marring the dinner.

Araba Tagoe would neither confirm nor deny the story when this reporter reached her on phone. She, however, told The Chronicle that “Kurk threatened to slap me because I had gone to the aid of the poor questioner, but he could not.”

To Araba, the supporters of the Regional insider misinterpreted the deputy youth Organizer’s question to mean that he had embarrassed the Minister, hence the attack on him and his executives.

Araba Tagoe, however, denied that Kurk Mensah slapped her as is being rumoured. She said the president’s security intervened to save the situation.

Isaac Tetteh, the Tarkwa deputy Youth organizer, also at a separate telephone interview confirmed that indeed he had asked the question which nearly marred the dinner.

According to him, supporters of the regional Minister saw his question as an embarrassing one, hence the verbal attack on his person. Tetteh said they decided to let the president know the true state of the problems in the constituency, after several petitions to the regional Minister had fallen on death ears.

Meanwhile, the Regional Youth Organizer, Mr. Yonus Muhammed, who is noted for taking on the Regional Minister and his deputy for deserting the grassroots support base of the party, abandoned the dinner, after he was subjected to verbal assault from the deputy regional Minister’s special Assistant, Michael Arthur, over food.

The verbal assault from the deputy Minister’s special Assistant was, according to party insiders, a payback time for the Youth Organizer for his penchant on taking on the Minister and his deputy at the least opportunity.

Yonus Muhammed, who confirmed the story in a telephone interview said he had done nothing wrong when the Minister’s Special Assistant descended on him with verbal assault over food.

Yonus has thus threatened to retaliate, what he described as the bad conduct of the special assistant at the appropriate time. “I will not let him go scot free, if he is special assistant, I am also an executive member of the party,” he said.