CONFUSION AT SUHUM NPP PRIMARY (PAGE 13)

THE POLICE had to apply minimum force and diplomacy to avert a clash between two factions of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the party’s primary to elect a parliamentary candidate for the Suhum Constituency in the Eastern Region in Koforidua on Saturday, June 14, 2008.
The factions were led by the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) and the Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Frederick Opare Ansah, and Mr Bryn Acheampong respectively, who were the only candidates vying to contest the seat.
In the midst of the confusion, which lasted for over 20 minutes and was characterised by stone throwing on the YMCA premises, the venue of the event, two regional executive members of the party, Alhaji Omar Bodinga, the Second Vice Chairman and Mr Seth Otchere, the Organiser, as well as the electoral officers conducting affairs had to run for their lives through the backdoor.
The primary, which was first slated for Adidiso, a village near Suhum, the constituency headquarters, about three weeks ago had earlier been called off as it ended in confusion over the eligibility of eight polling station chairmen from Nankese, the second largest town in the constituency.
While Mr Opare Ansah’s faction wanted the eight polling station chairmen to vote because they qualified to do so , Mr Acheampong’s group disagreed, with the excuse that they had not been elected to do so, and that under no circumstance should they be allowed to vote.
To avert a possible clash between the two groups, it was therefore decided to hold the congress at a neutral ground but before most of the delegates would arrive, the Second Vice Regional Chairman of the party, Sub Lt. Christian Kofi Tettey, told newsmen that the national headquarters of the NPP had directed that the event should be called off.
In spite of that the delegates assembled together with Alhaji Bodinga, Mr Seth Octhere and Mr Opare Ansah for the commencement of the event.
As soon as the Suhum NPP Constituency Chairman, Mr A.Y. Adu, had delivered his speech and called for calm for the event to proceed, Mr Acheampong and some NPP members forced their way through the police cordon into the hall.
While Mr Acheampong banged on the table in the hall and questioned the legitimacy of the event, some members of the party who were kept at bay by the police outside the hall started throwing stones into the yard, forcing those inside, including journalists covering the event, to take cover in the cubicles.
The New Juaben Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent John Naami, and his counterpart from the Suhum District, Superintendent Stephen Amoako, who led armed policemen to maintain order had a hectic time controlling the crowd.
He later conferred with Mr Opare Ansah and Mr Acheampong behind closed doors, after which the event was called off.
A fuming Mr Acheampong, later told journalists that he had earlier been told that the primary had been called off and so he did not make himself available. However, he said, he was prepared to take part in the event if that could be done the same day he had confronted the organisers.
For his part, Mr Opare Ansah told the Daily Graphic that he was shocked at the outcome of the event because he was given two letters, one signed by the Suhum NPP Constituency Chairman, Mr J. Larweh, and the Regional Secretary, Mr Alecs Agobo, indicating that the primary would come off in Koforidua on June 14, 2008.
Mr Opare Ansah, who showed copies of the letters to the Daily Graphic, indicated that a pre-congress meeting was organised at the Oyinka Hotel, also in Koforidua on June 13, and wondered why it should be disrupted.