Police grill NDC chairmen

Two Constituency chairmen of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in the Ashanti region, are helping the police in investigations into the alleged extortion of various monies from employees of Zoomlion in the Afigya Kwabre district. Messrs Osei Bosie and D.Y. Kwarteng, chairmen for Kwabre West Constituency and Afigya Sekyere Constituency respectively are said to have connived with the local Supervisor of Zoomlion, Mr Yaw Boakye, to extort a total amount of GH¢11,900 from 169 employees of Zoomlion in the district. Twenty of the employees paid GH¢100,000 each to the chairmen, while the remaining 149 workers contributed about GH¢66.00 each. The Chronicle has gathered that the said monies were meant to grease the palms of some top officials who allegedly facilitated the employment of the workers. The District Chief Executive, Mr. Kwaakyire Oppong Kyekyeku confirmed the story when this Chronicle contacted him. According to him, he had already ordered that the extorted monies be refunded. He, however, said the directive does not stop the police action to investigate the case. Sources indicate the Zoomlion supervisor and his accomplices managed to manipulate salary vouchers of the workers to make it appear as if the company owed its workers four months salary arrears, instead of three months. The three persons are said to have positioned themselves at the premises of the Afrancho branch of the Sekyere Rural bank, so that they would collect one month’s salary from any of the workers who collected his or her accumulated salary. When some party executives were informed about the deal, a formal complaint was lodged with the police at Boamang, upon which the persons involved were interrogated pending further investigations. In a related development, the Boamang Police have mounted a search for Mr Osei Bosie, Kwabre West Constituency of the NDC for allegedly masterminding the assault of Mr Ben Kusi, the constituency vice chairman, by a group of thugs last Sunday at Kodie. Bosie, who feels threatened by the ambition of his vice for the chairmanship position in the impending constituency polls, is said to have engaged some thugs to beat up his lieutenant at the residence of the District Chief Executive, without any provocation. When the police got to Bosie’s Buoho residence early one Tuesday morning, the constituency chairman had absconded with his vehicle – registration number GR4334 R. As a result, the police have declared the NDC chairman wanted; in order to face assault charge in a court of law. It all started when Mr Kusi was prevented from attending a meeting of constituency executives at the DCE’s residence. The constituency Youth Organiser, one Seth, is said to have refused Kusi entry into the DCE’s residence where a meeting of constituency executives was supposed to take place that Sunday afternoon. During the commotion, followers of Kusi and the constituency chairman engaged in a bloody clash. It took the intervention of Offinso police and reinforcement from the Striking Force Unit of the Ghana Police Service in Kumasi, to prevent the lynching of Mr Kusi. The District Security Committee, headed by the DCE Mr Kaakyire Oppong Kyekyeku, has met to see the way forward towards the security situation in the district. Source: The Chronicle