Tema MCE making gov’t unpopular – Tema NPP organizer 

The New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Organizer for the Tema West Constituency, Emmanuel Arhin Young, has said some members of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) are plotting to make the government and the party unpopular in that area.

Mr. Arhin Young made the assertion at a press conference held on Monday to protest against the demolishing of some containers that had been sited in front of the Cocoa Village in Tema.

“We are gathered here today to reveal to Ghanaians an evil and diabolic act against the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Danquah Akufu-Addo and the Member of Parliament (MP) of Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah. This action is being perpetrated by some Assembly Members of the TMA headed by the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) and the Metro Engineer,” he added.

He said the MP for the constituency appealed to the MCE to halt the process so they could find a lasting solution to the problem, but “with total disrespect to Ahenkorah, TMA came with fifty armed Navy Officers, twenty armed Policemen and some Macho men and turned the Kasajan Electoral Area into a war zone, smashing shops with impunity and forgetting that the shops were the sources of livelihood of the people.”

“We know that this is an orchestrated move to make the MP and the President of Ghana unpopular, because the Engineer kept saying he was under strict instructions from the Flagstaff House and the backing of the Ghana Navy.”

Mr. Young accused the two Assembly members of the area for telling the affected owners that two letters for the demolition had come from the COCOBOD at the time the MP was a member of the Board.

“This is an absolute lie because the said letter was dated 19th October, 2016, and the MP was not even appointed as a Minister nor a Member of the COCOBOD.”

The Assembly woman for the Kasajan Elecotral Area, Mrs. Mary Enu, said she told everyone who came to her that there was a Sewer Line through the area, and so COCOBOD would break the wall when they finished with the construction of the Cocoa village and reconstruct the gutter and the Sewage Line.

She also informed them of the security threat the containers posed to the village because it could serve as a launching ground for criminals to enter the village.

The Assembly man for the BBC Electoral Area and Works Committee Chairman for the TMA, Mr. Kwesi Poku, said “My problem is, the MP is a Board Member of the COCOBOD so he should call his CEO to order; that is my argument.”

He asked the electorate to be patient and not allow themselves to be used to achieve somebody's political ends.

“I know the mind of the MCE is not bad, and we need to sit down to see what we could do for our people to be comfortable,” he said.

The Sub-Metro Chairman for Tema West and Assembly member of the Batsona Electoral Area, Mr. Joe Boaben Twumasi, condemned what he called a campaign to replace the MCE.

He said, “You can see that his policy direction is perfect. It is jealousy on the part of some people. We the Assembly Members are behind him because he can do the work. This short time he has been around you could see he is doing well.”

Mr. Boaben observed that, it was the MP who wanted to score political points with the issue, because the containers involved were just five, adding that “he is escalating a trivial issue so it would seem as if he was fighting for his people.”

He said the MP was a member of the Assembly, and the decision to clear the containers was taken at the General Assembly meeting.

He said Ahenkorah was fighting against the Local Government Act, Section 222/223 which talked about obstructing the work of a Local Government Officer and could be in trouble.

He pleaded with the MP to meet the MCE and reason with him adding “I will advise him to get closer to the Assembly so we could work together to make Tema a place to be.”

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