DCE Goes On ‘Gambling Ride’ Again!

It appears nothing will deter the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Amenfi Central in the Western Region, Peter Kwakye Ackah, from
proceeding on his risky agenda of dissipating his assembly’s money
through a litigation many have described as useless.

After losing a litigation against one Kwame Armah at the Sekondi High Court on October 31 2014 on the construction of a petrol filling station in his district, Mr. Ackah has filed an appeal at the Cape Coast Court of Appeal, with hearing scheduled for January 27, 2015.

Interestingly, cost of several thousands of Ghana Cedis in damages
against the assembly is pending since the Sekondi High Court before hearing the case, ordered the assembly to make an undertaken to compensate the defendant should the case go in favour of the defendant.

Despite the undertaken and losing of the case at the High Court by the assembly, Mr. Ackah would not abandone his cause as he proceeds to the Court of Appeal.

On Monday, November 10, 2014, The New Crusading Guide published that, in July 2013, Mr. Ackah in the name of the assembly, applied for an interim injunction to be placed on the operation of a petroleum filling station sited in Manso Amenfi in the Amenfi Central District.

It was the Assembly’s argument that the facility fell within the
residential enclave as earmarked by the Assembly.

The Court before going into the case however ordered the Assembly to make an undertaken to compensate the defendant for losses incurred in the event that judgment went in favour of the defendant.

That, the Assembly complied with the District Coordinating Director, Emmanuel Gyan, signing the ‘Notice of Undertaken’ on November 13, 2013 for and on behalf of the assembly on the instruction of the DCE.

The Court subsequently granted the application for interim injunction on September 25, 2013 and renewed it on November 28, 2013.

In the course of the hearing, the defendant, Kwame Armah, through his lawyer, Kwesi Nkrumah, contended that he had all the requisite permits for his facility since 1993 and had been operating since then.

He argued that he also had the approval of the Wassa Amenfi East
Assembly and that the Amenfi Central Assembly which was carved out
from the former only in 2012 could not halt his business which had
been in existence for over two decades.

The court subsequently upheld the case of the defendant on October 31 this year.

However, the ruling sparked uneasiness and tension in the Assembly as many Assembly members believed the Assembly would have to empty its coffers in order to defray the debt.

Some of the Assembly members, this paper gathered, had impressed upon the DCE to withdraw the case when it was ongoing but the DCE refused.

The Council of State Member for the Western Region, Mr. George Dadzie, the late Paramount Chief of Wassa Amenfi, Nana Kwame Kasapreko Baffanyine and some religious leaders of the area have all one time or the other called on the DCE to discontinue his risky adventure but he was adamant, sources say.

When contacted, Mr. Ackah refused to pass any comment on the matter for now but promised to give his side of the story at a later date.

Meanwhile, further investigations into the matter suggest that the DCE might have wanted to settle a personal score with Mr. Armah.
This paper learnt that the DCE was once a New Patriotic Party (NPP) member who contested in the party’s parliamentary primaries in the
Amenfi Central Constituency in 2004 and lost.

At the time, Mr. Armah was the Constituency Chairman and was believed to have played a role in Mr. Ackah’s defeat at the primaries.

Since then, the two have not been in good terms, compelling Mr. Ackah to contest as an independent parliamentary candidate in 2008.

In 2010, Mr. Ackah defected to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and contested in the party’s parliamentary primaries in 2011 and lost.

He was however compensated with the position of a DCE after the NDC had won the 2012 elections.

Source: The New Crusading Guide