Geoefw Kyei Frimpong
7 October 2008
The bickering and mudslinging among the New Patriotic Party faithful in Dangbe West seem to be intensifying, with the Deputy Minister of Women& Children's Affairs and the parliamentary candidate of Shai Osudoku, Mr. Dugan dragging the District Chief Executive(DCE) of the area to the NPP Disciplinary Committee (DC).
Mr. Dugan is seeking punitive action from both the DC and the Chief of Staff against the DCE, Hon. Michael Adjowerh-Nortey, for misconduct.
In a petition written to the Disciplinary Committee of the party's constituency executives and the Chief of Staff on August 20, this year, which has been sighted by The Chronicle, the Deputy Minister lamented that the attitude of the DCE was resulting in the NPP fast losing favour from the electorate.
Tabling the alleged offences of the DCE, he stated that most cooks for the School Feeding Programme had not been paid, however the DCE's sister, Madam Selina Maame Adjowerh had never missed her remuneration, sparking agitations from other cooks.
According to him, district projects like the construction of three public places of convenience at Ayikuma have not taken off due to directives of the DCE.
Mr. Dugan indicated that their strained relationship began as soon as he declared his intention to contest the parliamentary seat.
He stressed that immediately he took office, the DCE set out a campaign to punish anyone who supported Hon. K.T.K Agban for contesting the 2004 NPP Parliamentary Candidate, Ms Gloria Akuffo during their 2004 primary. The first casualty was the NPP Constituency 1st Vice Chairman, Mr. Stephen Onuma, who was employed as a driver at the district Assembly by Hon. Agban, but was dismissed by Mr. Adjowerh-Nortey.
"Other party activists who suffered the same fate and were dismissed from their various work places include, Messrs Livingstone Dotse, Raphael Adovor, Prince Narh, Felix Otibo and Bismark Adjatey," the petition reiterated.
Mr. Dugan maintained that during the 2006 District Assembly Elections, the DCE refused to honor invitations to meet with the NPP constituency executives to discuss ways of sponsoring NPP members who were interested in standing for the position of assembly members, however, he rather did the unthinkable when he commandeered resources and moved against a known NPP activist, Madam Grace Maame Osei in her bid to secure the seat at the Ayikuma Electoral area.
"He supported the candidature of NDC's Hon Emmanuel Akornotey by using resources to bus NDC supporters from beyond the region to vote against Madam Osei," he emphasized.
He continued that when Madam Osei's name was put up for Ayikuma Area Council member, the DCE dropped it, as a result of which currently one seat at the Council is vacant, adding that he proposed Mr. Akornotey to be given the Chairman/Secretary of Ayikuma Council against a known NPP member, Nene Afutu of Afienya.
The Deputy Minister observed that all district assembly projects had been awarded to NDC activists including the Member of Parliament, Hon. David Assumeng, thereby giving the NDC an upper hand in the elections.
One offence he found very worrying was the alleged refusal of the DCE to sponsor party members to welcome President J.A.Kufuor to the area when he went to inaugurate the Golden Exotics Ltd. Banana farms in 2006.
This situation, according to Mr. Dugan gave credence to rumours that the DCE was favouring the NDC as a way of securing the post should the NDC come back to power.
The Deputy Minister said at this year's Osudoku Council Meeting, the DCE stated that the Golden Exotic Ltd could not fulfill their promise to execute good roads and electricity to Kasunya because of financial problems, but before he (Deputy Minister) could bring his suggestion, the DCE was no where to be found.
He concluded that there was abundant evidence to the effect that the DCE had been instigating people to derail his campaign.
When Chronicle contacted the DCE, he noted that he had not sighted a copy of the petition, however, the Committee had contacted him for his response over allegations that had been leveled against him, to resolve the problem between him and Mr. Dugan.
He denied ever dismissing the people that had been mentioned by Mr. Dugan adding that Mr. Onuma was not dismissed but resigned on his own.
Responding to the School Feeding Programme saga, he said payments had to come from the projects secretariat, but from January there had not been payment from him, stressing that in order to keep the programme running he had to make some payments with his own salary.
In a letter to the Regional Chairman of NPP, Mr. Adjowerh-Nortey said in preparation towards the registration of the youth who have attained the age of 18years, he called two meetings at his residence with the NPP executives but unfortunately Mr.Dugan did not turn up.
He continued that the executives who were present could also not give him any concrete plans for the exercise as they claimed they had also lost touch with Mr.Dugan.
He maintained that "My interaction with some of the executives who are approachable also gave the same sentiments, they said the PC has not been meeting them after his acclamation, he has also not formed his campaign team or even directed them as to how to go about the registration or his preparations towards the December election."
He warned that there should be an immediate remedy before the constituency was handed over on a silver platter to the NDC due to the absence of a committed PC.
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