Tension In Shama

There is uneasy calm in the Shama constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Western Region as one of the two aspiring parliamentary candidates of the party in the area has accused the constituency chairman of the party for disrupting his meeting with some party delegates.

The aspirant, Samuel Ericson Abakah, a legal practitioner, has alleged that the constituency chairman of the NPP, Joseph Amoah deliberately disrupted his meeting with delegates of the party last Sunday.

According to the lawyer, while he was having a meeting with the delegates at a drinking spot at Jomo, in the constituency, the constituency chairman suddenly appeared and started shouting 'Where is Abakah! Where is Abakah!!' 

The aspirant noted that the said Abakah was not part of the meeting but the chairman claimed he thought Abakah was part of his campaign team and that Abakah has been insulting him (chairman).

Lawyer Abakah indicated that the alleged action by the constituency chairman created confusion at the meeting and nearly brought the meeting to an abrupt end.

The lawyer stressed that the person the constituency chairman was looking for was not part of his campaign team. 

He noted that even if the said Abakah was part of the meeting the best thing for the chairman to do was to wait so that after the meeting he could confront Abakah.

'The incident took place in the evening and anything could have happened but I had to talk to my supporters to calm down', he added.

He indicated that he was yet to make official complaint to the Western Regional secretariat of the NPP for the appropriate action to be taken.

Reacting to the allegations, the constituency chairman indicated that during the recently held vetting for the aspirants, it was made clear that all aspirants should submit their programmes to the constituency executives before embarking on their campaign.

He asserted that Lawyer Samuel Ericson Abakah did not comply but only called him (chairman) to inform him about his intention to meet some delegates.

'I gave him the green light because I knew if I had stopped him it would have been a different story', he added.

Chairman Amoah noted that later he received calls from one George Abakah, a campaign team member of Lawyer Ericson Abakah, insulting him (chairman).

He mentioned that that was not the first time George Abakah was doing that and that he had asked the aspirant to talk to his supporters to refrain from insulting him and other executives of the party in the constituency.

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the constituency chairman of the party was alleged to have belonged to the camp of the other aspirant, Mr Ato Panford, chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) in the Western and Central Regions and was suspected of trying to stifle the efforts of the lawyer from becoming the party's candidate. 

 From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi