Manhyia Palace gives NPP one-week ultimatum to produce Wontumi to answer questions

The Kumasi Traditional Council has given the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) a one-week ultimatum to present the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Mr Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi) before it to answer some questions.

According to the Council, Chairman Wontumi needed to be physically present before the Council to explain his gross insubordination against the golden stool and its occupant.

The Council, led by Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia, Bantamahene, gave the ultimatum when a high-powered delegation from the leadership of the NPP went to meet the chiefs at the Manhyia palace on Monday, on alleged derogatory remarks made by Mr Antwi Boasiako, towards the Asantehene and the golden stool.

The NPP delegation, led by Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong, the General Secretary, pleaded with the chiefs to give them a two-weeks deadline since Mr Boasiako was said to be seeking a medical treatment in China, but the chiefs refused and said he should be produced “even if he was in a wheelchair.”

The traditional council also advised the delegation to bring Mr Maurice Ampaw along also to answer questions based on some comments he made on television on the issue, but Mr Kodua told the council that it would be difficult to bring him along since he made those comments as a person.

Chairman Wontumi is alleged to have made some derogatory remarks against the Asantehene and chiefs in Kumasi, during the vetting of NPP parliamentary aspirants in Kumasi.

His comments had created tension between the chiefs and the NPP, leading to a call by the Asante Youth Association and other Asante groups to the Manhyia palace to ban Chairman Wontumi and the NPP leadership from entering the Manhyia palace.

GNA