There is anger among members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ayesuano constituency in the Eastern Region after Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia held a meeting with party executives in the house of an alleged member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the weekend.
The Vice President, who is lacing his boots to become the NPP flagbearer for the 2024 election, attended a commissioning ceremony in Ayensuano and used the opportunity to meet with the constituency executives and members on his ambition to lead the party.
But following the meeting, members of the party are angry over the choice of venue, wondering why the event could not be held at any other place but a facility owned by an alleged well-known NDC Chief in the area.
The incensed party members have called on the party executives to render an unqualified apology for the avoidable blunder that has brought the party into disrepute.
“We have a big issue with the venue. The things that are being said after the meeting are not palatable. We don’t know if the constituency executives or the coordinators were the ones who rented the facility. We’re told the palace belongs to a known NDC member.
“Why should we host the vice president openly in an NDC person’s facility when the Assembly Hall is available? The constituency executives need to explain this decision to us. We are not taking this issue lightly at all. We’ve been very saddened by this development. The coordinator for Kyekyewere whom we thought knew about this has claimed innocence about the development,” a member is heard saying in an audio clip.
However, the First Vice Chairman, Asare Danquah explained that the executives had no knowledge the owner of the facility is an NDC member as is being alleged.
“Fellow party members, I want to clarify this issue once and for all. We the executives had no information that the chief whose house we went is a member of the NDC. There was no signal to that effect.
“When we got the information that the Vice President was coming, our DCE who’s a rep of the president deemed it necessary to find a good place to host the veep’s meeting with us. He relayed to us that he’s found a decent place and that was the first time I’d gone to the place and seen this man that we’re talking about. If we knew that he’s a member of the NDC as is being alleged, we wouldn’t have held the event at his facility.”
“The event was successful, even the issues that were discussed there, should it get out to an NDC person it wouldn’t be a problem. Please, forgive us, it wasn’t deliberately done. Nobody knew he is NDC, I’m not sure the DCE would have held the event there if he knew the man was NDC as is being alleged,” the First Vice Chairman, Asare Danquah added.
