Big Rift In Okaikoi NPP Camp

A CONTROVERSY surrounding the residential status of one of the aspiring Members of Parliament for the New Patriotic Party for the Okaikoi North constituency in Accra has created a deep rift in the party.

The aspirant, Mr Yaw Adjei Amankwah has alleged that some constituency executives are using some "fictitious means" to oust him from the coming primaries, the date of which is still unknown.

According to him, his "detractors", whom he named as the constituency chairman and his cohorts of office abusers, who allegedly want to continue to use their offices to "enrich themselves", see him (Amankwah) as a threat to their corrupt deeds, hence the plot to disqualify him.

Speaking at press conference, at his residence at Nii Boi Town, Mr Amankwah said his residential status in the area, had been challenged adding that he (Amankwah) is not going to kowtow to dubious tactics adopted by his detractors who want to derail his parliamentary aspiration. He claimed to have been residing in the area since 1999.

However, when Ghana Palaver contacted Mr Owusu Afriyie, Chairman for the constituency, he debunked the statement by Mr Amankwah explaining that it was Mr Patrick Asante, "personal assistant" to the current, MP, who wrote complaining to the Vetting Committee, of which he (Afriyie) is not a member.

Meanwhile, some loyalists of Mr Amankwah have vowed to move heaven and earth to ensure that nobody is imposed on the constituency.

THE GCB AFFAIR

THE case of the sudden termination of the appointment of Mrs Matilda Obeng-Ansong as Managing Director of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), appears to be far from over, as officials at the Castle and members of the Board, slug it out, to find out whose word must prevail, on such matters.

According to insiders, Mrs Obeng-Ansong was given "a diplomatic sack" by the Board, following a hint that she had approved a loan for an opposition party leader, Mr Goosie Tandoh, of the National Reform Party.

The insiders maintain that the former MD merely acted upon an earlier policy instruction from the Castle, which directed that no customer be denied any facility, purely based upon his political position or inclinations.

The treatment given to Mrs Obeng-Ansong, due to go on retirement very soon, after a long service for the "offence" of acting upon earlier general policy instruction therefore, has sparked off a controversy between some top Castle officials and Members of the Board.

Meanwhile, observers have noted, with concern, the threat to the operations of Ghanaian businessmen, posed by the bank's decision, which, is far weighty in degree than the casual remark once made about Appiah Menkah's products, which the NPP, had chosen to make mountain our of it, whenever issues about the encouragement of local industry arise.

The matter, according to insiders, can't be wished away, since its implications transcend even beyond the walls of the GCB.