Some irate youth in the Nzema East Municipality in the Western Region have called on President John Atta Mi1ls to remove the Municipal Chief Executive of the area, James Ackah Cobbinah, from office.
According to the youth, they could not fathom why the chief executive of the municipality should purportedly cause the brutal assault and subsequent detention of a 32-year-old UK-base Ghanaian and a native of Axim; Michael Mclegend on the evening of Thursday, September 15, 2011 during the Kundum festival.
The youth expressed concern about the way Mr. Cobbinah, a reverend minister, had exposed his arrogance by insisting that Mclegend be detained even after the Paramount Chief of the Lower Axim Traditional Area, Awulae Attibrukusu III, had ordered that he be released.
According to them, Mr. Cobbinah, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, after assuming of lice as the MCE, had been very divisive.
“We the people of this municipality want somebody who can unite us, respect our culture and improve on our living standard,” they indicated.
Mr Cobbinah was alleged to have ordered his driver, Eric Amoako, to beat the UK-based Ghanaian on that fateful evening during a drumming and dancing event to mark the annual Kundum festival.
As if that was not enough, the MCE was said to have asked the police in Axim to arrest and detain the 32-year-old who hailed from Axim.
Godfred Sunney, one of the irate youth, noted that during the celebration of the festival last Thursday evening, hundreds of people from Axim converged on the middle of the road in front of the Axim Police Station to participate in a drumming and dancing event.
He said before the ceremony started, the youth blocked the road at both ends to prevent any vehicle from passing through, stressing that had been the routine during the celebration every year.
According to him, at about 8:00pm, the crowd saw the MCE's 4X4 Land Cruiser vehicle approaching.
Sunney said when the vehicle got to the exact place the people were drumming and dancing, Mclegend, who was then recording the event with his video camera, appealed to the driver to use another route.
The driver of the 4x4 vehicle, Sunney noted, became furious, got out of the car, held the shirt of Mclegend and subjected him to severe beatings until Mclegend blood started bleeding from his nostrils.
He said the incident happened right in front of the MCE who looked on with a grin while Mclcgend was being assaulted.
He alleged that after the beatings, the MCE ordered the Police in Axim to arrest the 32-year-old man and detain him.
According to Sunney, the Member of Parliament for Evalue-Gwira, Catherine Abelema Afeku, upon hearing the story, went to the police station to bail the young man and sent him to the Axim Government Hospital where he was treated and discharged.
When contacted, Hon. Afeku indicated that the alleged action by the MCE and his refusal to allow Mclegend to be granted bail was a violation of the victim's liberty.
She mentioned that people ought to respect the culture of the natives of Axim because from time immemorial, no vehicle was allowed to pass through the crowed during the evening drumming and dancing aspect of the Kundum festival.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Guide, Mr. Cobbinah denied ever ordering his driver to beat anybody on the day in question.
He explained that on that Thursday evening, he was travelling from Takoradi to Axim after attending a workshop in the port city and on reaching a part of the road in front of the Axim police station; he saw a lot of people had gathered there.
He said immediately the people who had gathered in front of the police station saw his 4x4 vehicle approaching, they asked the driver to go back and Mclegend, from nowhere, started banging the car with his hands and calling him (MCE) an idiot.
“In fact, from the way the guy was behaving, I presumed he was drunk so I asked the police to detain him after my driver had given him some slaps for calling me idiot, so I did not order my driver to assault anyone as had been alleged,” he added.
He said if he was removed from office as the youth were demanding, he would not be discouraged but would remain faithful to the ruling party.
Story by Daily Guide/Ghana
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