Sacked for dodging the ‘ballot box’?

Antwerp-Belgium--President of Kwahu Europe Association, now transformed into a Foundation, Dr. Abena Keller Agyepong, analytical Psychologist, committed an embarrassing constitutional blunder, making her to lose her enviable position, for allegedly engineering a ‘back-door’ amendment to the society’s constitution.

The Supervising Body of the Foundation adopted unanimously a “No Confidence Vote”, tabled by Germany and seconded by Belgium to terminate her appointment. The position of a President has no attached emoluments, but with attractive fringe benefits of (1)-Free Air travel tickets, (2) Free Hotel Accommodation (paid by the Foundation and (3)-Healthy/Friendly Community environment.

The unauthorized constitutional amendment enable Dr. Agyepong to circumvent “ballot- box” context, for the post of President in violation of Article 3/2 of its constitution: 2 other appointments made without authority for Messrs. Kwabena Asante (Italy) and King Dankwa (Holland) as General Secretary and Treasurer respectively have also been terminated— Mr. Asante, then General Secretary of the defunct Association unlawfully retained his position, while Mr. Dankwa, then a Project Manager, jumped into the seat of a Treasurer.

Even though article 3 the constitution indicates that:

1. The foundation’s committee consists of at least (3) but no more than five (5) office bearers; the number shall be decided by the Supervisory board. Mr. Dankwa, who presented the constitution to the delegates, at a recent conference in Amsterdam, had insisted that only 3 of them, being the President, General Secretary and himself (Danka) would be permitted under Netherland’s Government law, to run the foundation.

The Foundation’s Surprising body which sat in Antwerp-Belgium, under the chairmanship of Nana Ampadu Okotwerebuo, chairman of the Association’s Ethic committee, deliberated over 5 hours at an emergency meeting attended by Delegates from Britain, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Belgium.

It pointed out that, it could in no way condone and connive or reward unethical behavior, which violates laid- down rules and regulations guarding the Foundation, and protecting interest of its members: It accused the 3 former Executive members of, (1) abuse of power, (2) Violation of the Constitution (3) Non respect of the fundamental rights of members of the Association.

It must be recalled that, at a recent conference of the Association held in Amsterdam, the3 Executive members, led by the ex-President, maneuvered to sell the unauthorized constitution to Delegates, even though they had apologized for its technical error. The delegates, who never had chance to read the constitution, voted 6-1 in acceptance, with Germany voting negative, after Mr. Dankwa had eloquently explained it so called benefits to delegates.

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Universal right to vote!!!

In one of several e-mail write ups which packed-up the internet, triggered by the constitutional upheaval, Kwaku Boatin (Switzerland) argued that the back-door amendment, “denies the individual/member of the association/foundation of the basic ‘universal right to vote’: since the ‘ballot box’ has completely been wiped-out/eliminated by wording of the constitution.

“Why do we vote? A vote is an individual's act; a fundamental right which arms the individual with a weapon to express support or preference for a motion, a resolution, or preference for a particular candidate in a democratic setting. Voting advantages are quite enormous: it helps, among others, to measure up a candidate for his/her competence, exposes unhealthy character traits, reveals hidden motives/agendas, and avoids putting square pegs in round holes; apart from its universal understanding for promotion of valued democratic practices, which radiates transparency and accountability.

“Therefore, what one should expect, when the ‘ballot box’ has been eliminated in a constitution such as one which was sold to the Amsterdam conference? Simple stated, Autocratic system, where a particular individual or group of persons would use her/his/their authority or power to rule by decrees, like practices under known fascist’s regimes, denying the individual/member the right to exercise his/her franchise: The right to vote”.

When the ex-President, Dr Agyepong attempted to dissolve the Association and sacked its Executive members in an e-mail letter, it sparked-off an avalanche of protest on the internet, with members writing in favor or against the unauthorized constitution, which eliminated, among others, the ballot box and revoked members’ voting rights.

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Constitutional uproar?

To quell the constitutional uproar, in an attempt to save the Foundation from break-up, the Supervising Body quickly convened the emergency meeting, which appointed Mrs. Florence Osafo, President of British chapter of the Foundation, as its interim President to replace Dr. Agyepong, until proper democratic elections are held.

Other interim executive members are: Mrs. Eleanor Boateng (Britain), Secretary, with Mr. Stephen Sefa, President of Holland chapter, as Treasurer. 2- Other Interim members--Mr. Rex Adjei (Belgium), Mr. Sackey Akuamoah (Germany), were selected to join the Executive.

Meanwhile, the Supervising body has ordered re-writing of the constitution. The Foundation has also pulled out from negotiations to acquire the 70-acre plot housing the Tomo Nii orphanage in Obomeng-Kwahu (Ghana), because of alleged incessant land litigations.

Attending the conference were Mr. William Wiafe, Country Manager of UT Financial Services in Germany, connected with the Tomo Nii project and his German wife, Beate. Mr. Wiafe, invited by the Supervising Body, gave detailed account, first by producing volumes of documents in support of his argument, then latterly in a question and answer format, as he was grilled by barrage of questions by some curious/apprehensive delegates, explaining in vivid words, the controversy surrounding the Tomo Nii project in Obomeng-Ghana.

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