Police put Kumasi assembly member on ‘wanted’ list

The Ashanti Region Police is on the heels of the Assembly member for Asokwa New Town in Kumasi, Mr Oscar Riches, aka Ghana Beyeyie, who allegedly assaulted the Deputy Coordinating Director of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mr Kaleem Abdellah Adam, during a meeting last Wednesday.

Mr Adam was rushed to the Cocoa Clinic in Kumasi where he was treated and discharged, after which he lodged a complaint with the Ashanti Regional Police Command.

Although the police said they were looking for Mr Riches, he had been on a number of radio stations speaking to the issue.

Investigations

The Kumasi Central District Police Commander, Superintendent of Police, Mr Cosmos A. Damoah, confirmed that the police had commenced investigations into the matter.

When he was contacted, Mr Adam confirmed the attack but stated that “master, you know I am a public servant and that I cannot talk to the media.”

For his part, Ghana Beyeyie told this reporter by phone that he was in a meeting and could not talk about any issue.

Source

A source at the meeting told the Daily Graphic that Mr Adam’s crime was that he was unable to produce a document for members of the Finance and Administration Subcommittee of the assembly at a meeting.

It said Mr Adam, who was new at the assembly, explained that the said document was with the Coordinating Director who had stepped out with the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE).

Not satisfied with that explanation, the source added that Ghana Beyeyie started pouring invectives on Mr Adam and asked him to walk out of the meeting.

Mr Adam is reported to have agreed to leave the meeting but assured Mr Riches that he (Adam) would never attend the committee’s meetings again.

Punching

The source further stated that Mr Riches, thereafter, landed three straight blows on the face of the bespectacled director, breaking his eyeglasses and inflicting a cut on the face with a bloodshot eye.

According to the source, but for the timely intervention of some members at the meeting, Ghana Beyeyie would have disfigured the face of the deputy director.

Presiding Member

When contacted, the Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Abraham Boadi, aka Opooman, confirmed the incident but indicated that no official complaint had been lodged with the assembly.