A desperate move by Daniel Ohene Agyekum, the Ashanti regional chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), to calm the nerves of supporters of the party in the Asawase constituency, has hit the rocks as the supporters have vowed to demonstrate repeatedly till President Mills re-appoints Hon Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka.
The supporters, led by their constituency executives, on Friday went on rampage, vandalising the regional office at the Asafo Market in Kumasi, protesting against the resignation of the embattled Youth and Sports Minister. After the destructive demonstration, the executives declared that they had resigned en bloc and that they were not prepared to work for the party in the constituency any longer till President Mills restored their Member of Parliament (MP) to his ministerial position.
According to them, they do not fathom why Hon Muntaka should be compelled to resign if indeed, the National Security investigations had exonerated him of any wrongdoing in the allegation of financial impropriety levelled against him by Messrs Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom, Chief Director and Principal Accountant at the Youth and Sports Ministry. As the father of the party in the region, Mr. Agyekum had wanted to save the situation from further deteriorating, with his calls for calm, but the resolute supporters, with inspiration from their leaders, insisted they would continue to demonstrate till their concerns were addressed. The leaders, who spoke on a number of radio stations on Saturday, disclosed that plans were far afoot for a mega demonstration to be staged in Kumasi in line with their calls for the reappointment of Hon Muntaka.
The �eye red� demonstrators categorically intimated that they would cease to be members of the ruling party if their planned repeated street protests failed to yield the positive result they were looking forward to. Though the National Security had cleared Hon Muntaka of all the 17 allegations leveled against him by his Chief Director and Principal Accountant, the exuberant MP announced that he had resigned from his position. Political pundits and a section of the populace have expressed surprise that if truly investigations conducted by the National Security have exonerated the Asawase MP, then there is no basis for his resignation. Against this background, many are of the firm belief that Hon Muntaka was compelled to resign so that the chapter on his saga which appears to have dented the image of the government could be closed.
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