Tarkwa NDC polling station executives want MCE, others removed

Some aggrieved NDC polling station executives in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Constituency say they have lost faith in their constituency executives and are calling for their removal. They also want the Municipal Chief Executive Christina Cobbinah removed from office for non-performance.

The leadership of the group which made the call at a news conference on Tuesday said they had scheduled a demonstration against the MCE and the executives but had to suspend it because the Constituency Chairman, Anthony Kwame Adu, allegedly hired military men to beat them up. They are asking President Mahama not to retain the MCE because, as the party’s Parliamentary candidate, she had lost the election on two occasions to the NPP’s Gifty Kusi-Dapaah.

According to the angry NDC members, the MCE’s incompetence has retarded development in the mining town and is to blame for the party’s failure to win the Tarkwa seat in the last election.

They said the polling station executives wanted one of two individuals - the CEO of Medeama Sporting Club, Moses Armah, and one Alhaji Mohammed - who have financed the party’s activities to be considered for the position of DCE for the district.

A leading member of the group, George Sika Nartey told Maxx News the MCE has had the chance to stay on because she has the support of the Constituency Chairman whom he accused of hijacking contracts and creating divisions in the party.

“There has been a total neglect of party members with utterances such as 'I did not come for party folks but for the Assembly.' She and the Chairman have failed in assisting people particularly the party youth to secure jobs. She hasn’t been able to bring people on board after the primaries and the Chairman complains that the party owes him but since 2009 till date, he has executed about 28 contracts and is still fighting for one this New Year,” he alleged.

The group is also demanding that new contracts and projects in the municipality are halted until the MCE and the party executives are removed. They have vowed to go to every length to get their concerns addressed.

“Tarkwa Nsuem is a municipality but the pace of development is abysmal. We don’t want them to paint any bad picture for the young man, John Mahama because he is a youth and he understands us. So that is why when the Chairman decided to bring military men in the course of our demonstration, we decided to call it off and make it a press conference because we didn’t want any bloody scenes. We want our concerns to be addressed else on Friday we will match to the party headquarters to meet the General Secretary because we are bent on dying for our party in Tarkwa,” he noted.

But when contacted, the Constituency Chairman Anthony Kwame Adu refused to respond to the specific allegations and dared the group, which he said lacked standing in the party, to take whatever action they wanted but warned that if anything happened to the leader of the group, he would have himself to blame.

He however said the protesters ought to channel their concerns through the party's structures if they had any rather than run to the media.

Meanwhile Maxx News’ investigations have revealed that some executives of the party in the Constituency are in support of calls for the MCE’s removal and are strongly behind the action by the youth. An executive member who spoke to Maxx News on the grounds of anonymity said the MCE has had the support of majority of the executives also because her husband, Mr. Joseph Cobbinah is the Western Regional NDC Secretary.

Prior to this group’s press conference, another group in the constituency calling itself Youth for John Mahama, had in a press release called for the removal of the MCE and the Constituency Chairman citing similar reasons by the Polling Station executives.