Okyehene Causes Top NDC Official’s Arrest…For Threatening Mayhem

Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin     Related Stories NDC Executives Seize NHIS Office…We Ain’t Afraid Of The Police They Say NDC Footsoldiers’ Actions Stems From Ridicules By Political Opponents Angry NDC Youth Takeover NHIS Office Zabzugu   Barely 24 hours after some executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Abuakwa South Constituency, led by the Constituency Secretary, Shakespeare Ofori-Atta, chased out the newly appointed NHIS Manager and locked up the office, the Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin, has caused a citizen’s arrest. The Okyehene is said to have summoned the NDC Constituency Secretary to Ofori Panyinfie (the palace), and after rebuking him, handed him over to the Koforidua police. Shakespeare Ofori-Atta, together with some other executives of the NDC in the constituency, in an interview on Peacefm’s “Kokrokoo”, threatened to visit violence, fire and brimstone on the newly assigned NHIS Manager to the area, Mr. Daniel Adjei Danjuma, should he dare enter his office to perform any duties. According to him, they have "labored enough to bring the NDC to power and will not allow anyone to reap where they have not sown." “Besides,” he said, “since it is a political position the party has equally good qualified members who can perform the task of an NHIS Manager. But perhaps what might have prompted the Okyehene into taking action was the statement by the NDC Constituency Secretary that until they get what they want; the office will not be opened and his threats that other NDC colleagues would burn the office down even if he (Ofori-Atta) was arrested by the police. In an interview on PeaceFM News@Mid-day, Nana Nyarko, linguist of the Okyehene, confirmed the arrest of Mr. Ofori Atta and stressed that “the (NHIS) office is for the whole nation and not for NDC or NPP. Therefore no one can get up out of his own volition to close down a state property, even if he is a Goliath…,” he said. According to him, the Okyehene is not going to turn deaf ears to some of these issues, adding that “the youth are trying to put the law into their own hands which is not good...We’re waiting for those who are going to burn down the office in 15 minutes,” he added. In a related development, Mohammed Abass, a Political Science Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has blamed the actions by the irate NDC youth seizing state property on spillover of “dissatisfaction”. Speaking to PeaceFM News, Mr. Abass said “most often when politicians are desirous of power they give all sorts of promises and members get hooked onto the promises and holds them accountable to it. But if we tell our followers the truth, incidents like this will not happen,” he surmised.       Source: Rebecca Quaye/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Institute of Journalism