Ejura-Sekyedumasi NPP executives suspend party member

Executives of the Ejura-Sekyedumasi constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have suspended Dr Joshua Ayarkwa, a member of the party indefinitely for what they described as misconduct and attempts to sow the seeds of discord among members in the constituency.

Dr Ayarkwa's suspension was contained in a resolution passed at the constituency delegates congress held at Ejura at the weekend.

It was attended by 350 delegates from all the 98 polling stations in the constituency.

Assigning reasons, the resolution stated that the decision to suspend Dr Ayarkwa was based on findings and recommendations of the constituency's disciplinary committee, which was tasked to look into his recent actions, and utterances, which the executives perceived to be in contravention of the party's constitution.

The resolution, which was copied to the National Party Chairman, General Secretary, National Disciplinary Committee and other related bodies of the party, accused Dr Ayarkwa of masterminding a recent assault of Mr Samuel Abagna, the NPP constituency chairman.

The assault, the resolution said, took place during the Ashanti Regional Delegates Congress of the NPP at the Centre for National Culture in Kumasi on May 10, 2003 resulting in Mr Abagna sustaining serious injuries in the left eye.

Dr Ayarkwa was also accused of clandestinely convening meetings and instigating some polling agents to pass a vote of no confidence in the constituency executives.

"This act contradicts Article 6, sub-section 7 (1) of the party's constitution", the resolution noted.

The resolution said the executives were forced to take such a harsh decision because Dr Ayarkwa refused to appear before the disciplinary committee to answer charges levelled against him in spite of several reminders.

In a related development, NPP polling agents in the constituency have vehemently denied appending their signatures to a purported letter that sought to pass a vote of no confidence in Mr Abagna and the constituency executives and which was published in the 'Pioneer' and 'The Independent' news papers recently.

The polling agents contended that the names and signatures were forged and called on the constituency disciplinary committee to investigate to expose those behind it.