NPP's Ploy against me will fail -Doe

The Central Regional Minister Ama Benyiwa Doe is accusing the opposition New Patriotic Party of plotting her downfall but she says whatever strategy the main opposition political party is plotting against her would fail.

³The truth of the matter is that, for the past two weeks, the NPP has been meeting in Mankesim and they have been discussing all manner of strategies to get at me, but let me say here that this path they have taken is a rough road and they would fall into a gutter², Madam Banyiwa Doe told Emefa Apawu, host of the Big Bite on Xfm 95.1, an Accra based private commercial radio station.

Emefa Apawu was seeking to find out the truth in reports that Madam Benyiwa Doe had prevented former Information Minister Asamoah Boateng from exchanging pleasantries with chiefs and elders at the funeral grounds of Nana Essandoh Okese VIII, the late Omanhene of Nkusukum Traditional Area in the Central Region.

Madam Benyiwa Doe who said she never sighted Asamoah Boateng at the funeral grounds said the accusation was one of the NPP's strategies of getting at her. ³The last time they met, they urged their people to do all that they can to get at me. They want to get some kind of face after the fracas with Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo and the Chiefs of the area, but they think that tackling me is the most appropriate, they should come again², she said. Madam Benyiwa Doe however said the ploy against her would not work charging the NPP ³if they want to get at me, they should get a proper lens and look properly.²

The Daily Guide newspaper which first broke the story published that former Information Minister, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng aka Asabee was last Saturday sacked from the funeral grounds of Nana Essandoh Okese VIII, the late Omanhene of Nkusukum Traditional Area in the Central Region, seemingly on the orders of the Central Regional Minister Ama Benyiwa-Doe, who observed the episode with a gleeful grin.

The paper stated that the cheers and ovation that greeted Asabee¹s arrival at the funeral abruptly ceased when he was physically stopped by policemen present, who explained that they were acting on instructions of ŒMadam¹. He was not even allowed to present funeral donations and gifts he had prepared for the bereaved royal family on Saturday and therefore had to travel back to present the donations yesterday, Sunday.

Mr Asamoah-Boateng, until last year, was the Member of Parliament for Mfantsiman West, the constituency in which the funeral was being held; and though he is a distant relative of the late chief, he was ordered by the policemen to leave the funeral grounds unless he could provide an invitation card to show that he had been officially invited.

However, Madam Benyiwa Doe rubbished the story describing it as ridiculous. Story by Abena Asiedua Tenkorang/ Robert Israel Xfm 95.1 Accra, Ghana