NDC Supporters clash over Effiduase DCE

Supporters and opponents of Mr Kwadwo Addai, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region Wednesday morning clashed at the district capital, Effiduase. Police personnel had to fire warning shots to disperse the rioters and maintain security. Nhyira FM’s correspondent, Alexander Afrifa who was reporting on the riots, became a victim, having been assaulted by the supporters. He has since been hospitalized. Some supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) had accused the DCE of sidelining them in the execution of development projects in the area. Although Mr Addai repeatedly denied the allegations, the angry supporters gathered at his office Tuesday and threatened to kick him out. They vowed to defect to another political party if the appointing authority fails to sack the DCE. To calm tensions and find an amicable solution to the impasse, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Kofi Opoku Manu Wednesday went to the district to try and intervene in the matter. But when he entered the Effiduase, the two groups – supporters and adversaries of the DCE – launched an audacious attack on each other. Joy FM Correspondent, Kwabena Ampratwum said the police had to whisk the both the DCE and the Regional Minister out of the area to prevent anything untoward happening to them. The embattled DCE, told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh that he had scheduled the meeting with Mr Opoku Manu at a secured location but the Regional Chairman of the NDC who led the Regional Minister’s delegation bypassed that location and drove the convoy into the trouble makers’ zone. He dismissed the calls for his dismissal by his detractors, maintaining that out of the 62 branches of the NDC in the district, “58 branches are solidly behind me.” Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana