The Eastern Regional Minister, Honourable Eric Kwakye Darfour, has been exonerated after a scheme led by some persons within the party to dent his image has been uncovered.
They initially targeted the minister’s parliamentary seat and succeeded snatching it from him and has extended further, their ploy to his ministerial position.
The agenda has however been foiled, vindicating the minister, and rather crashing the heads of some of the plotters to the gutters.
The ill motived agenda began with the collection of a GHC1 levy from drivers who ply their trade in the three (3) Municipal and District Assemblies in the Kwahu area ahead of the NPP’s parliamentary primaries. They mounted barriers at all entry ports to the Kwahu area namely, MTTD – Atta Ne Atta; KAWSEC Junction; Life FM; Soldier-line; Adoagyiri – 440 and Nsuta – Abanase.
The aggrieved drivers, approached the regional minister at his office to help solve the matter. The minister further called the three MDCEs in the area to reconsider their decision in order to save the face governing party in the enclave which happens to be one of the party’s worldbanks.
Report has it that, in a bid of bringing the issue to its logical conclusion, about three different meetings involving the drivers, Regional Security Council (REGSEC), the three MDCEs in the Area, Hon Yaw Owusu Addo, Kwahu West; Hon Isaac Agyapong, Kwahu East and Kwahu South’s Emmanuel Atta Ofori Snr were held.
The MDCEs refused to accept the decision by the minister and REGSEC, as well as the drivers to halt the levy collection on all the occasions the meetings were held.
To legalize the collections, especially in the case of the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly, where the Minister doubles as the MP, the MCE hurriedly tendered in the decision to the Municipal Assembly for ratification and was made an Assembly by-law.
Surprisingly, the three MDCEs suspended the collection of the levies, without going back to their various Assemblies for reversal of the decision few days after the regional minister had lost the primary election.
In an interview on Nkawkaw based Agoo FM, the MCE for Kwahu West and the MP for Abetifi, Honourable Bryan Acheampong, announced the stoppage of the collection of the levies from the drivers, a day after the Minister had lost the primaries.
True to the announcement, the collection of the levies, though not sent to the Assembly for its reversal, halted.
Angered by the disrespect metted to them by the MCE and subsequent breach of the District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies standing orders, some 14 assembly members initiated a process to pass a ‘vote of no confidence’ in their MCE.
The assembly members petitioned the Presiding Member of the assembly to begin processes towards the exercise, a process which they have since rescinded until further notice.
The actions of the Assembly members were quickly greeted by the saboteurs of the MP with the execution of their second strategy of making him lose his ministerial position.
Report says stories were immediately shared in some media portals indicting the MP, Hon Eric Kwakye Darfour, of masterminding the actions of the Assembly members, in an attempt to smear him.
The MP was also accused of sabotaging the party’s parliamentary candidate, Joseph Frimpong, a former Constituency Organizer of the party in Nkawkaw.
This deliberate link of the actions of the Assembly Members to the minister according to sources within the minister’s circle came as a complete shock to him.
According to the source, while the minister had no knowledge about the actions of the assembly members, he is equally baffled and finding it difficult to come to terms with why he will be linked to their actions.
The minister has also been accused of branding his car with pictures of the President and the Vice-President without that of the PC.
A close source to the minister said, it is not up to him to print souvenirs for the PC and that as and when the PC’s souvenirs are ready, he is also ready to help him.
The source said, the branding of the car was done by the constituency secretary who felt the party is not being made visible in the area with just about two months into the general election.
“It had to take the minister to intervene to get the NDC to move their banners from his (MP) area. This is because the NPP PC and the campaign team are not making the party visible in the area. The minister cannot sit idle, so if he is helping in making the party visible in the area as a sitting MP, is that a crime?” the source questioned.
By//Alfred Asare
Source// Obohnews
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