KMA slaps one-year suspension on Oscar Riches for alleged assault

The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has suspended the Assembly Member for the Asokwa New Town, Mr Oscar Riches, aka Ghana Beyeyie, for a year for allegedly assaulting the Deputy Coordinating Director of the KMA, Mr Kalem Abdellah Adam.

At the assembly meeting in Kumasi on Thursday, December 28, 2017, 37 members of the assembly voted that Ghana Beyeyie should be suspended for three months, four voted for six months, seven abstained, while 53 of them voted for the one year suspension.

The voting was conducted after the Public Relations and Complaints Committee (PRCC) of the assembly had presented its findings to the assembly meeting in Kumasi.

When Ghana Beyeyie, who had been participating in the assembly’s deliberations, realised that the issue of his suspension was about to be tabled on the floor, he walked out of the meeting.

Assault

Ghana Beyeyie is said to have assaulted Mr Adam on November 22, 2017, when the latter was invited by the Finance and Administration sub-committee of the assembly to answer certain questions to which he could not provide answers.

Mr Adams explained that his boss, the co-ordinating director, was in the best position to answer those questions.

When Mr Adams was about to leave the meeting, the chairman of the subcommittee started raining insults on him.

In response, Mr Adam is said to have retorted that he came to work at the assembly on merit, with his certificate, a statement which infuriated Ghana Beyeyie. Upset by that insult, Ghana Beyeyie pounced on Mr Adams and in the process punched him several times on the face, leading to his pair of eyeglasses being damaged and a cut on his face.

Mr Adams was rushed to the Cocoa Clinic for treatment and he later reported the matter to the Kumasi Central Police which wrote to the assembly to release Ghana Beyeyei for investigation.

Presiding Member

The Presiding Member, Mr Abraham Boadi, later told the Daily Graphic that when Ghana Beyeyie appeared before the PRCC, he insisted that because the matter was before a law court he could not comment on it but failed to provide any documentation to that effect.

He said not even the explanation that the PRCC was not looking into the criminality of the issue but his conduct as an assembly member could convince Ghana Beyeyei to assist the committee.

Committee

Mr Boadi noted that all witnesses corroborated the assault and the committee recommended that Ghana Beyeyie should be suspended for a year, which the majority of assembly members voted for.

The committee recommended that Mr Adams should also be suspended for two weeks after he had rendered an apology to the Finance and Administration subcommittee of the KMA for claiming that he was at the assembly with his certificate.

At the assembly meeting, Mr Adams, who was almost in tears, apologised to the house about his comments and asked for forgiveness.

Touched by his show of remorse, the assembly voted unanimously against his suspension.