Confusion hits NDC in Trobu-Amasaman

There is growing tension in Trobu-Amasaman constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ga West Municipality over what seems to be the persistent resistance by the youth to block the wanton sale of lands by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Ga West Municipal Assembly, Mr. Sam Attuakwei Quaye, to companies and individual land developers, Today can report.

Today understands that the youth wing of the ruling NDC who are leading the onslaught on the MCE are being backed by some Assembly members to ensure that the MCE stops his actions.

The youth have accused the MCE of taking bribes from companies and selling the assembly’s lands to them.

According to the youth in the constituency, Mr. Attuakwei Quaye used part of the money he made from the sale of the lands to these companies to build an office for the Trobu-Amasaman constituency as part of a face-saving tactics to throw dust into the eyes of the people in the twenty five (25) electoral areas in Ga West municipality, which has necessitated the protest by the youth since no reason they claimed was assigned for that.

They alleged that the move by the MCE was a grand scheme to ensure the defeat of President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC in the area.

What seems to have incurred the wrath of most members and supporters of NDC in the constituency was the 'strange' circumstance under which the MCE made an open remark to the residents that he (MCE) “has been ordered by the President to demolish building structures belonging to some people in the municipality, an allegation Mr. Quaye has since denied, describing it as unfounded and baseless by his critics to soil his hard won reputation.

Signals picked by this paper point to the fact that the youth are bent on demonstrating anytime soon to ensure that the embattled MCE is removed.

The youth in a petition dated Monday, February 8, 2016 and addressed to President Mahama and signed by the Constituency Secretary of Trobu NDC, Mr. Edmund Palmer Quarshie, his deputy, Robert Kwaku Boglo, including 160 other members alleged that on January 28, 2015 Mr. Quaye sold 14.04 acres of the assembly land only for 300,000 Ghana cedis without the knowledge and approval of the assembly.

The two-page petition, which Today chanced upon, questioned how a learned person (MCE) could give such a vast land for such an amount of money.

The youth stressed that the action(s) and inactions of Mr. Quaye was tantamount to corruption, daring the MCE to submit himself to public scrutiny if he claimed he had not sold lands belonging to the assembly to individuals and companies.

According to the petitioners, the MCE even dared them to find out how the NDC built its headquarters, implying that it was also built with “kick-backs.”

They could also not fathom why the MCE sold a plot of land in a prime area in Amasaman at an amount of 5,000 Ghana Cedis when the current price of a plot of land in a prime are like Amasaman is over 100,000 Ghana Cedis.

Earlier, the MCE, responding to the allegations in an interview with Today on Thursday, February 11, 2016 disclaimed the membership of the petitioners.

"My brother (referring to this reporter) l have said that in the Ga West Municipality we have 25 electoral areas but we do not have a secretary for the NDC in Trobu.

“...and also we do not have a secretary for the NDC in Amasaman, so cross-check your facts well on the names of the leaders of the petitioners whom you claimed are recognised members of Trobu-Amasaman NDC," Mr. Quaye averred

But NDC executives in Ga West Municipality and Greater Accra Regional Office have disputed the MCE’s claims of the signatories of the said petition, affirming that two personalities who signed the petition are recognised secretaries of the NDC in Trobu-Amasaman constituency.