Kumasi Police Save Akwasi Agyemang

Accra - The expected peaceful demonstration by 46 members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) scheduled for last Tuesday could not come on owing to the refusal of the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Mr. Adu Gyimah, to grant them police permit.

The refusal, according to the Assembly members, was premised on the fact that in the words of Mr. Adu Gyimah "Akwasi Agyemang is a very unpopular person and if a permit is granted for the demonstration, peaceful as it is intended to be, his 'enemies' will take the opportunity to vandalise the Kumasi Metroplolis and the confusion which may erupt cannot be controlled by the Police."

The 46 Assembly Members, in a swift response to the refusal of the Kumasi Police, have sent a petition to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Kojo Yankah, demanding that the Presiding Member of KMA be made to respect the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Assembly.

The petition, dated June 15 and copied to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Presiding member of the KMA and the Metropolitan Chief Executive, also asked the Regional Minister to intervene in his capacity as the direct representative of the President in the Region.

Among others, the petition stated that "Kumasi is not an isolated entity outside Ghana with different laws, rules and regulations" and warned "We will not sit down unconcerned when the Constitution is flouted with impunity by certain personalities of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly."

Sleuth investigations by The Independent have revealed that Hon. Kojo Yankah, in response to the story on the demonstration carried by The Independent last Tuesday, summoned Assembly Members to a meeting at which he promised to ensure that Nana Osei Owusu Banahene, the KMA Presiding Member, convenes a meeting of the Assembly to brief members.

In spite of this, the 46 Assembly Members have refused to change tact and have promised the public they shall pursue the fight until the right things are done at the KMA.

In this direction, they have given Hon. Kojo Yankah the end of this week to respond positively or risk the wrath of the Assembly. The Electoral Commission was expected to be at the KMA premises last Friday if the petition of the 46 Assembly Members was acted upon

Our Kumasi office has been been inundated with calls in support of the BIG 46, as the group has been referred to lately since we carried the story last Tuesday

One caller, obviously not impressed by the fact that the Assembly men allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the Police, charged: "If the Assembly men think they cannot remove Akwasi Agyemang from KMA, they should tell the world and we the people who elected them."

The saga of Nana Akwasi Agyemang at the KMA is indeed not a palatable one. Accusations over the years have done very little to ruffle the man who prefers to be titled Okumkom - literally meaning 'killer of hunger'in Akan.

At a time when the District Chief Executive of Jomoro, Thomas Ekye Kwesi, has been removed with alacrity, even the Castle Public Affairs Bureau has scurried to the defence of Akwasi Agyemang on the pretext that the President has not received any petition for the removal of Akwasi Agyemang.

Meanwhile, dogged battle between the BIG 46 and Nana Akwasi Agyemang rages on, at least for now, and the Kumasi Metropolis in the next few weeks will see the protagonists outdoing and outbidding each other for Presidential and public support. As to who wins, that can be anybody's guess.