Calm returns to Atebubu
Calm has returned to Atebubu in the Atebubu-Amantin District in the Brong Ahafo Region after a section of the youth of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) burnt down the constituency office of the party.
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The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Christopher Tawiah, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that police reinforcement had been dispatched to assist the police in Atebubu in the maintenance of peace.
He added that the District Security Council (DISEC) also met yesterday, to which meeting the immediate past District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Sampson Owusu-Boateng, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Sanja Nanja, were invited.
ASP Tawiah said the Atebubu District Police Commander, Superintendent Atsu Dzineku, who chaired the meeting, advised the two persons to restrain their supporters from causing further mayhem.
The police had earlier declared the former DCE a wanted man.
The PRO said the police were working around the clock to bring the youth who were involved in the incident to book and assured residents of the town that the police would assert their authority in the area to enable residents to go about their socio-economic activities peacefully.
The riots
The action of the youth was in protest against the removal of Mr Owusu-Boateng from office by the President.
Mr Owusu-Boateng was last year disqualified from contesting the NDC primary in the constituency.
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The youth also set the house of an NDC activist, who they perceived to be behind the removal of the DCE from office, ablaze during the incident.
The police, last Wednesday, arrested one person, Ayamba Anderson, alleged to be one of the architects of the incident, while efforts were made to arrest the others.
Ex-DCE demand
Meanwhile, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has revealed that the dismissed DCE demanded a dismissal letter from the President as a condition for leaving office, reports Kwame Asare Boadu.
According to the minister, the ex-DCE stated categorically that once it was the President who appointed him, no one but the President could write to dismiss him.
Untenable
But the minister stated that the ex-DCE’s demand was untenable because appointment and dismissal letters for metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) were not written by the President himself.
“The standard practice is for the President to direct the sector minister or any other officer to write to the affected person.
“And that is what happened in the case of Owusu-Boateng and other MMDCEs who have been relieved of their positions,” Alhaji Dauda told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday in reaction to the riots that rocked the NDC in Atebubu last Tuesday.
No explanation
The minister said the President was not obliged to explain the reason for the appointment or dismissal of any of his appointees.
“So the former DCE would be making a big mistake to demand reasons for his dismissal,” he said.
Disregard authority
He wondered why, of all the MMDCEs who were relieved of their positions, only Mr Owusu-Boateng cried foul and demanded an official letter from the President to that effect.
Even though the minister condemned the violence in its entirety, he stated that the former DCE could not run away from blame, as he blatantly refused to leave office after he had been sacked by the President.
Mr Owusu-Boateng, who was removed from office per a letter from the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, refused to quit his post and kept state properties, including his official vehicle.
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Illegal business
Alhaji Dauda said the day before the riots, the dismissed DCE had been in his office illegally conducting official duties.
“He had no right to do all that he did. His dismissal letter stated clearly that he should hand over all state properties in his possession to the Brong Regional Minister but he refused to do so,” he said.
Police invitation
He said it was the former DCE’s failure to act on the dismissal letter that prompted the regional minister to ask the police to take possession of the vehicle.
“But, surprisingly, he was not prepared to hand over the vehicle to the police,” he added.
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New directives
Meanwhile, Alhaji Dauda has disclosed that a new government directive demanded that MMDCEs who want to travel outside the country must seek permission from the Chief of Staff through the sector minister.
“This is to curb unauthorised travels and instill discipline in the work of MMDCEs,” he explained.