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24.10.2008 NDC

NDC supporters attack radio presenter

24.10.2008 LISTEN
By The Statesman

Some die-hard members and supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress who claim to be unhappy about a reportage carried by the local ROK FM station on the party's recently held Sekondi-Takoradi rally are calling for the blood of the journalist and radio presenter, Okatakyie Amoh Asamoah.

Hardly a day passes by without these faceless party members calling the Station or the presenter on his cell phone to heap insults, curses and threats on him with countless text messages.

Some of the messages read "Shame unto you Okataktie, we know you have been bribed by the NPP to broadcast negative stories about us but Insha Allah, we would win the December election', and 'Okatakie, you would soon vanish from your house if you continue broadcating negative stories about the NDC.'

These threatening telephone calls and text messages which started coming in around 11am last Saturday immediately after the news broadcast were so numerous and disturbing that the Presenter had to switch off his mobile phone to enable him concentrate on the day"s work

 The 'Statesman later learnt of his intention to lodge a formal complaint at the Takoradi Central Police station.

Okatakyie's woes begun when he went on air that fateful morning to broadcast that only seven NDC members and fifty uniformed policemen were at the Ghana@ 50 Jubilee Grounds as at 9.30 am last Saturday when he went there to cover proceedings.

According to him, a letter sent by the NDC to ROK FM inviting journalists to cover the visit of the party's founder J J Rawlings, to the twin-city that day said the programmes starts at 9am. But the Grounds was virtually empty when journalists went there at 9.30.

After waiting for hours with no sign of the arrival of a significant number of party members, Okatakyie had no option than to go back to the studio to furnish the public with a progress report of proceedings at the Durbar Grounds where the former president was supposed to have been welcomed into the twin-city.

His report however did not go down well with the NDC who see it as negative and a fabricated one meant to create the impression that the party has no support in Sekondi-Takoradi and for that matter the Western Region.

It is interesting to note that the party's founder deliberately declined to set foot on the Jubilee Grounds but opted for another venue because the Jubilee Grounds was constructed by the NPP administration for the celebration of the country's 50th independence celebration last year.

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