Demo Hits NDC Chairman

There are deep cracks in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region, which as a result, is jeopardising the party's much-talked-about one million votes target in the area in the 2016 presidential election.

This seeming rift compelled the Coalition of NDC Footsoldiers and Activists in Kumasi, made up of several NDC groupings, to threaten to hit the streets of the Garden City on March 9, 2015 in demonstration against Yaw Obimpeh, the regional chairman.

According to the irate group, Mr Obimpeh was the source of all the troubles in the NDC in the Ashanti Region so they would hit the streets to expose his bad deeds which were rapidly collapsing the party in the area.

They particularly accused Yaw Obimpeh of running a one-man show with the NDC in the area and also seeking his interests at the detriment of the NDC in general, stressing that they have had enough of his divide-and-rule tactics.

Among the groupings that formed the Coalition of NDC Footsoldiers and Activists are the famous Bashaka Movement, Majority Motor Riders, Taskforce One, Zongo for Mahama, Operation One Million Votes and Gaskia Club.

Numbering about 400, the peeved NDC activists, mostly from the Zongo neighbourhoods in Kumasi, also threatened not to campaign for the NDC in 2016 if President John Mahama did not call Yaw Obimpeh to order.

Ben Abdellah, secretary of the Coalition of NDC Footsoldiers, told DAILY GUIDE that snippets of information reaching them indicated that Yaw Obimpeh had peddled falsehood against Samuel Sarpong, the Ashanti Regional Minister, at the presidency.

As a result of these blatant lies, he hinted that President Mahama had become convinced and even decided to transfer Samuel Sarpong from the Ashanti Region, possibly to Accra, for another political position, in a few days to come.

With a grim face, Abdellah stated categorically that any attempt by the President to move Samuel Sarpong from the Ashanti Region would lead to a total collapse of the NDC in a territory which the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has as a stronghold.

He also told President Mahama to forget about the NDC's much-publicised one million votes in the Ashanti Region during the 2016 polls if Samuel Sarpong was moved, saying, 'Sarpong is the only one who can help the party win more votes here.'

According to Abdellah, Samuel Sarpong was the source of hope for NDC footsoldiers in the area who campaigned for the party.

'He is the only one in the region who has the interest of the NDC grassroot members at heart. So any action taken against him is automatically against us too.'

He said the NDC had dumped the Coalition of NDC Footsoldiers in Kumasi after their hard work which helped the party to win more votes in the Ashanti Region in 2012, stressing that but for the Ashanti Regional Minister, 'who we respect so much, we would have left the party long ago.'

The angry-looking NDC man stated that the minister, even in the face of provocation, usually kept his cool for the sake of NDC's unity, saying that the Zongo members of the NDC wanted President Mahama to retain his seat in 2016 'and people like Sarpong can help the President to achieve his aim so we would fight for him'.

Abdellah stated categorically that the Ashanti regional NDC was entangled in a myriad of problems, all due to the bad leadership style of Yaw Obimpeh, with support from Alhaji Sanni, the NDC Regional Organiser.

'They are collapsing the party,' Abdellah said.
He alleged that Mr Obimpeh had neglected the party and was rather practising a one-man-show leadership style as if the NDC was his bona fide property – an action which had created more visible cracks in the ruling political party.

He claimed that Yaw Obimpeh manoeuvred for past Ashanti Regional Ministers such as Kofi Opoku Manu and Dr Agyeman Mensah to be transferred from the region, stressing that 'we would not allow him this time to let Samuel Sarpong suffer a similar fate because he is a good man'.

Abdellah vowed that his group would on March 9 flood the streets of Kumasi in protest to let the whole world know how Yaw Obimpeh was rapidly collapsing the NDC in the Ashanti Region ahead of the crucial 2016 national elections.

He said so far Yaw Obimpeh was the only stumbling block to their target of amassing one million votes in the Ashanti Region in 2016.