NDC Youth On Rampage; Party Office Set Ablaze . . . MP, Fmr DCE At Centre of Storm(read more)

 

The alarm bells were sounded a couple of days ago about possible disturbances in the area, but the caution which came from the chiefs were ignored and now the explosion has occurred – several people shot and National Democratic Congress (NDC)offices burnt. This is the sad story of Atebubu-Amatin in the Brong Ahafo region, where the simmering tension between the District Chief Executive, Sampson Owusu Boateng and the Member of Parliament for the area, Sanja Nanja metamorphosed into open violence yesterday, forcing the state to deploy both police and military personnel to ensure law and order in the town. Available information indicates that the Brong Ahafo regional commander instructed his district commander at Amatin, Supt. Joseph Jinaku to seize the car being used by the DCE, Sampson Owusu Boateng, since he is no more the DCE for the area and that he had been removed from office by President John Mahama. According to Jinaka, who spoke to the various radio station in Accra yesterday, when he got to the office of the DCE to seize the car, as he had been ordered to do, the DCE told him that he was still in office, but he insisted on seizing the car. The DCE then told him that he was going home, so he followed up to the house, only to be pelted with eggs by the supporters of the DCE, for trying to seize the car. Though the car was eventually taken away, the police discovered later that some supporters of the ruling party, suspected to be followers of the DCE, had gone to the constituency office of the ruling party and set it ablaze. A fire officer who attempted to douse the blaze was reportedly shot at by the angry supporters. The MP for the area, Sanja Nanja, also told the media that the supporters of the DCE fired gun shots at him, but he escaped. According to him, he is being accused as the brain behind the dismissal of the DCE from office by the president, hence the attack on him.   Briefing MP for the area Sanja Nanja The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr Christopher Tawiah, told the Daily Graphic that although the DCE had been removed from office, he continued to use state facilities such as his official vehicle. He explained that when the police made the attempt to retrieve the vehicle from the DCE, his supporters, who had massed up in the front of the constituency office, deflated the tyres of the car, but the police managed to take it to their office for safe keeping. The youth, who were said to have become uncontrollable at that point, started destroying property in the office and ended up setting it ablaze. According to Mr. Tawiah, although officials of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were called in to save the situation, the NDC youth prevented them from doing so until the entire building was razed down. Not satisfied with their action, the youth, he said, went to town and touched a house belonging to an NDC activist whom they perceived to be one of the NDC supporters who backed Mr. Owusu-Boateng’s removal from office.

Source: The Chronicle/Graphic