Youth Organiser's Shop Torched

ON-GOING INTERNAL wrangling in the Kwabre West Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti region on "Good Friday"- April 14 this year, triggered off an act of violence at about 11:30 p.m. when the Electrical/Provision store of the Youth Organizer, Mr. Patrick Frimpong, was set ablaze.

The metal steel store, popularly known as "container", which is near the Kodie Police Station in the Kwabre district, was torched and razed to the ground. It contained goods estimated to be worth ¢ 50 million in it.

Some of the items included television sets, electric irons, electric cables and wires, fans and photo cameras.

Sources told The Chronicle that the violent action, said to have been executed by some members of the NPP Kwabre West Constituency, was well-planned by the perpetrators and done in retaliation against the Constituency Youth Organizer for leading the Youth and the Women's Wings of the party in passing a vote of no confidence on the MP.

It was gathered that one Atta Brobbey, the former Secretary of the Constituency and who was also identified as the MP's Special Assistant, was among the people who carried out the arson.

Auntie Abenaa, a drinking bar operator near the burnt store, told The Chronicle that she suspected that the action was pre-meditated because a five-man group, on Friday March 31, 2006, besieged the place and attempted to set the store ablaze, but abandoned the idea after one of them suggested that they should rather lock the constituency office, which they did.

She continued by saying that they had gathered at her drinking spot, in which meeting they spoke about their plans.

Meanwhile, the victim, Mr. Frimpong, has lodged a complaint to the Kodie police station, and by the time of filing this report, the suspect, Atta Brobbey, had been arrested and was assisting in investigations.

Atta Brobbey was said to have gone to question Sgt. Paul of the Kodie police station why they (the police) had gone to unlock the constituency office without seeking his approval, since the MP, Mr. Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, had given them certain instructions.

Thus, the victim believed that Brobbey and his men took the action in an apparent retaliation for the vote of no confidence passed on the MP.

But the MP, when reached on phone, denied his involvement in the violent act and consequently condemned it in no certain terms.

He believed the perpetrators of the act must be made to face the full rigours of the law, since the action was unjustifiable by all standards. He therefore declined to comment further in order to allow the police to carry out their investigations.

However, the Constituency Chairman, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, expressed shock and dismay in the light of growing internal wrangling, which has culminated in the violent attack on the Youth Organizer's property.

According to him, all these have come about as a result of the fact that officials of the constituency were not allowed to play their given roles.

He prayed for calm, adding that the law must be allowed to take its course in the matter.

Meanwhile, the Kodie Police, led by Chief Inspector Peter Insaidoo, have asked the public to allow peace to reign in the area but called for logistical support, since the police station which is catering for 36 communities, lacks means of transport and information gadgets to keep surveillance on crime commission.

He appealed to the authorities to beef up the numerical strength of the police personnel and give those working in the area now, some accommodation.