Eastern Region: Atiwa East NDC petitions against Chairman JOWAK over his Anti-party activities

 

The Constituency Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Atiwa East have petitioned the party over what they have described as the “selfish interest and anti-party activities” of John Owusu Amankwah (Chairman JOWAK) who is also the Eastern Regional Chairman of the party.

The petition signed by the Vice Chairman of Atiwa East Constituency, Freeman Isaac Boateng, the third youth Organizer Prince Acheampong, and some Elders of the party said the Chairman and his cartel are engaging in Anti-Party Activities through the Promotion of their selfish interest at the detriment of the greater good of the Constituency.

According to them, Chairman JOWAK and his team are employing schemes that are denying a lot of people from registering to become members of the NDC and this they believe is counter-productive to the efforts being made by the party to to increase its membership base in the region.

Subsequently, are petitioners want the national leadership of the party to call Chairman JOWAK and his group to order in the interest of the NDC as a party in the Atiwa East constituency and the Eastern Region.

The full petition is published here Below:

THE REGIONAL CHAIRMAN,
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS
EASTERN REGIONAL SECRETARIAT
KOFORIDUA.

ATT.
THE REGIONAL SECRETARY,
CUDJO ADUKPO.

We, the concerned NDC party members in the Atiwa East Constituency, write to draw your attention to the despicable behaviours of the constituency Chairman, the constituency organizer, and some selected constituency officers who are bent on promoting their self-interest at the expense of the greater good of the NDC in the abovementioned Constituency during the on-going membership drive in the Constituency.

These despicable behaviours have manifested through a well-calculated strategy. They entail deliberately denying many prospective members of the general public from registering to become members of the NDC in the constituency and depriving existing members whose names are in the party’s register the opportunity to get their membership cards, as well as using unapproved means in registering people they deem as sympathetic to their cause onto the party register.

Our claim is based on the following. Following the announcement by the NDC Eastern Regional secretariat about the party’s 14-day limited registration exercise in the region and the subsequent orientation given to the Constituency Officers by the regional representative, in the person of Sampson Kwakwa, the Regional Treasurer, the Constituency commenced the exercise. The Constituency was zoned into three areas, namely Anyinam, New Jejeti and Kadewaso. The Constituency Officers began the registration exercise on Sunday 28th August 2022 by moving to Kadewaso zone. Afterwards, the exercise has been characterized by delays, non-availability of materials and smuggling of new peoples’ name into the register as old members. In fact, some branches within the constituency are yet to start their registration with just two days to end the exercise.

We see this as a sabotage of the party’s membership drive in the constituency by the constituency chairman, the organizer and some selected executives. They are micro-managing and performing the duties of the branch executives in a bid to promote their interest rather than that of the party (Please see Appendix A, which depicts the accounts of some members of the party at the various branches detailing the dates the exercise began in their branches and the challenges they are facing).

The sad aspect of these despicable plots is that the Anyinam zone, which is the most populated area of the Constituency with more than half of the total branches, had most branches yet to start their registration as of 4th September, 2022 (Please see Appendix B, which depicts the accounts of some members of the party at the various branches detailing the dates the exercise began in their branches and the challenges they are facing).

In the Jejeti Zone, the stories of some concerned members are not different. (Please see Appendix C, which depicts the accounts of some members of the party at the various branches detailing the dates the exercise began in their branches and the challenges they are facing).

In our candid opinion, we believe that the chairman and his cohorts are being selective in the process. They go to selected communities within the three designated zones in the constituency they think will favour them in the upcoming branch elections. Perceived “friendly communities” are provided with enough and adequate materials to work with, whiles perceived “unfriendly communities” are deprived of the needed materials that will enable them to register many people. Also, in the latter communities, the chairman and his cohorts did not undertake proper education that will equip branch executives to do their job. In most of these places, the chairman and his cohorts are the ones performing the duties of branch executives, whiles they have allowed their “friendly communities” branch executives to perform their duties.

Failure to intervene may result in chaos and mayhem in various branches of the Constituency.

Based on these reasons, we believe the party’s 14-day limited registration exercise in the Atiwa East Constituency will not yield the desired outcome that the party crave.

Therefore, we kindly request that the party should not only grant an extension of time to continue with the exercise but also send a team to the constituency to supervise the whole process.

We hope that our petition will be given the necessary attention and prompt consideration

Yours faithfully,

Freeman Isaac Boateng
(Vice Chairman of Atiwa East Constituency NDC) & Lead Convenor of the Concerned Atiwa East Constituency NDC Members

Prince Acheampong
(Third Youth Organizer of Atiwa East Constituency NDC) & Organizer of the Concerned Atiwa East Constituency NDC Members

Anim Danquah
(Party Elder of Atiwa East Constituency NDC & Branch Chairman of Ampeyo, Moseaso.

Owusu Agyepong Isaac
(Constituency Youth Organiser Atiwa East Constituency NDC) & member of the concerned Atiwa East Constituency

Cc:

National Secretariat
Office of the General Secretary

 

Appendix C

Ahankrasu branch received their registration materials on Sunday, 4th September 2022.  As of Monday, 5th September 2022, nothing was going on there. They complained about the lateness of the materials and requested an extension of time. The membership form given to the branch was only one (1) booklet and have requested more booklets but have yet to receive them.

Abakoase Ward received its registration materials on Sunday, 4th September. This branch has three polling stations, two old and one newly created, but they received only the two old registers and three membership forms living the newly created branch without a register, so they received incomplete materials to work with, but tried to start doing house-to-house jobs on Monday 5th. They have requested for an extension of time and additional membership forms. Besides, they have identified 30 names in their registers that the various branch chairmen and executives have no knowledge of how, when and who registered them, i.e., these people have been smuggled into the registers.

Abakoase – Subriso branch received their materials on Saturday, 3rd September. This branch has a newly created polling station in addition to the existing one but only received the new polling station’s register, leaving behind the old register that they can refer from. So they complained about the difficulties of their work and wanted an extension of time. Also, have only one (1) booklet of the membership form and requested some.

Awosoase branch received theirs on Saturday, 2nd September. They have two old polling stations and two new ones created in addition, making four, but only received the old two registers but not the new ones, which may not be easy for them working in the new areas there. They also requested for extension of time and an additional membership form.