Disgruntled NPP sympathisers threaten demo

A group of disgruntled sympathisers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the New Juaben Municipality is to demonstrate against the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, Madam Comfort Asante, today, December 7, 2017 on the streets of Koforidua.

A letter sighted by the Daily Graphic with the names and contact numbers of eight of the members, stated: “She is driving women and men who are selling on the streets to a place where there is no toilet and urinal and also not more than two plots. Drivers also are not handled well in the municipality and as such they are blaming President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Koforidua is an NPP stronghold as such we will not sit down for the MCE to spoil our votes. She does not listen to advice.”

The letter was copied to the Central Police Commander, the Eastern Regional Minister, the Chief Executive of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, the Regional BNI Director, and in Accra to the President, the Chief of Staff and the Inspector General of Police.

Mr Daniel Yeboah, one of the affected traders who sells second-hand shoes at the Central Market in Koforidua told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the traders were invited to a meeting by the New Juaben Municipal Assembly recently during which they were informed of their relocation to the Pentoawala Market.

The Pentoawala Market is, however, currently being occupied by second-hand clothes dealers.

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Mr Yeboah said the traders were aggrieved because even though the assembly had not been able to relocate them to the that market, they had cleared them from the streets.

“We like the Pentoawala Market but it is currently not available to us so we are pleading with the assembly to allow us to sell on the streets until our relocation,” he stated.

He said their attempt to involve some NPP stalwarts, including the party’s Eastern Regional Chairman, to resolve the matter had proved futile, hence their decision to demonstrate.

Asked what the rationale behind the demonstration was, Mr Yeboah stated that: “We want President Akufo-Addo to know our plight.”

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Demonstration not the solution

The Regional NPP Chairman, Mr Kiston Ohemeng Kissi, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, denied claims made by Mr Yeboah that he (the chairman) attempted intervening in the matter.

According to him, the assembly had the responsibility to ensure law and order, and he could therefore, not interfere in its work.

“If they think demonstration will solve their problem, then let them go ahead,” he stated.

MCE reacts

“Everything I have done since I assumed the office of the Chief Executive of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly is to ensure that sanity prevailed,” Madam Asante stated.