Infighting in Western Region NDC

... as Alex Asamoah abandons post
... But Obed says he is unaware
Takoradi, W/R -- Investigations conducted by The Chronicle into an alleged feud going on among the Western regional executives of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have revealed that the vociferous regional chairman of the party, Nana Alex Asamoah, has for the past six months abandoned his post and refused to involve himself in all activities organized by the regional executive in the region.

Nana Alex Asamoah is also reported to have refused to convene or chair party meetings in his capacity as the regional chairman of the party. What appears to have broken the camel?s back was the alleged refusal of Nana Asamoah to attend the National Executive Council (NEC) meetings in Accra on behalf of the Western Region within the same period under review.


Investigations revealed that Nana Asamoah took the decision to distance himself from the party in the region after accusing some members of the former regional executive led by Mr. Sam Cheffer and Col. Rt. Kaku Korsah, with the alleged backing of some national executive members in Accra, of trying to undermine his administration.


The Chronicle gathered from sources within the party that Mr. Sam Cheffer, a financier of the party, appeared to have turned his residence at Chapel Hill in Takoradi into another regional office that is ?recognized? by the national executives of the party. As a result of this, resource that should have gone into the running of the party in the region is channeled through Mr. Sam Chaffer?s office, instead of the regional office of the party in Sekondi.


Madam Tabitha Quaye, a former Member of Parliament for Takoradi and currently the first regional vice chairperson of the party, confirmed this when she was contacted on her cell phone.


Though she attributed the situation to what she described as human error, she was quick to add that it was not peculiar to them in NDC alone.

Tabitha Quaye denied that Alex Asamoah had taken a back seat because of the infighting going on in the party. ?There is no division in the party. Asamoah has just decided to remain anonymous for sometime,? she said.


Col. (Rtd) Kaku Korsah, a former mayor of Sekondi-Takoradi, could not be reached for comment.


Sam Cheffer, however, told The Chronicle, when he was also contacted on his cell phone, that there was no division among the party gurus in the region, adding that Alex Asamoah had always been his good friend.


?My good brother, we are all trying to do our best to bring the party back to power and in so doing some people may think we are trying to usurp their powers, which is absolutely incorrect,? he said.


The Chronicle investigations established that some time in September, last year, Nana Alex Asamoah called a regional executive meeting at the party headquarters in Sekondi. Kaku Korsah, Sam Cheffer, Mrs. Lily Nkansah, the former regional minister, and all the members of the party?s parliamentary caucus in the region, attended the said meeting.

The Chronicle was told that in the course of the meeting, Nana Asamoah broke the sudden news to his party men that he was stepping aside to avoid stepping on the toes of some party faithfuls in the region and beyond.


Asamoah allegedly told the meeting that he was going to follow up with an official letter to both the regional and national executives of the party about his decision to step aside.


The meeting, The Chronicle gathered, did not accept Nana Asamoah?s decision since that could affect the fortunes of the party. He was therefore prevailed upon to delay putting his decision on paper till an arbitration committee they were going to put in place submitted its report. All the parties were also warned not to leak the issue to the press or the constituency executives.


Contrary to their determination not to leak the information to the constituency executives, some of the constituency chairmen got a hint of what transpired at the meeting. A constituency chairman of the party who preferred to remain anonymous told The Chronicle that when they approached Nana Asamoah with the information, he denied it.


The constituency chairman further told The Chronicle that they later realized their regional chairman had distanced himself from the activities of the party in the region.

Indeed, when the national chairman of the party, Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, toured the region recently, Nana Asamoah was nowhere to be found. When newsmen asked some party executive members about the whereabouts of the regional chairman, they were told he was attending a meeting somewhere and would soon join them, but this hope never materialized.


This reporter later spotted Nana Asamoah, who was said to be attending a meeting, playing a game of draught at the railway quarters in Takoradi, while the national chairman of the party was touring the region.


The Chronicle was told that later Dr. Obed Asamoah, as the father of the party, appointed Dr. Josiah Aryeh and the minority leader, Hon. Alban Bagbin, to settle the dispute in the region to ensure a peaceful campaign this year.


Dr. Asamoah and Josiah Aryeh, however, denied this claim when they were contacted on their cell phones in Accra.


Asamoah told The Chronicle that so far as he was concerned, the regional executive was functioning and that he had not appointed anybody to arbitrate in any dispute. Aryeh on his part said he was aware Nana Asamoah did not follow them when they came to the region but said he was unaware of any dispute in the region.

Nana Alex Asamoah himself would neither deny nor confirm the claim that he had abandoned his post. He however demanded to know from the reporter the source of his information. When he was told that it was against the ethics of the journalism profession to do so, he refused to make further comment.


He told The Chronicle that if some people would not mind leaking information about the party to the press, he would not follow their footsteps to comment on it and then he switched off his cell phone.


It was gathered that ever since Nana Asamoah took the back seat in the running of the party in the region, none of the secretarial staff at the regional headquarters of the party had been paid his monthly salary.


The telephone line has also been disconnected for sometime now, thus making communication with the constituencies very difficult. Some of the party vehicles are also reported to have been grounded.