P. C. Appiah Ofori Bows Out

The controversial Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, Paul Collins Appiah Ofori, last Sunday incurred the wrath of his party supporters when he announced his successor at a New Patriotic Party (NPP) meeting in the constituency. The party supporters would not take lightly, any dictatorial tendencies from the controversial MP PC Appiah-Ofori, who had told the meeting that he was bowing out and therefore would not contest the seat in the 2012 parliamentary elections. While the supporters were not surprised at the news of his bowing out which was delivered in the presence of Daily Guide reporters, one of whom was disguised as a party supporter, all hell broke loose when P.C. Appiah-Ofori named a successor to his seat. The meeting was organized at Odoben in the Central region to supposedly explain to supporters the recent amendments to the party�s constitution. To the surprise of supporters, however, Appiah Ofori named Kwame Annan, a former first vice-chairman of the constituency, as the person to take the position of Member of Parliament when he stood down, appointing nine other persons to serve as constituency executives in the upcoming constituency elections. Before the MP could finish his �succession-plan� speech, the furious supporters had started raining insults on him. �Even former President Kufuor did not nominate anybody for various positions when leaving office; so you don�t have the right to do that,� the fuming supporters growled. The controversial MP, in his speech lambasted former President Kufuor and Alan Kyeremanteng, a former presidential aspirant. He also added that he had advised Parliament to withhold the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and asked them not to pass the Vodafone deal, but it all fell on deaf ears, describing those decisions as retrogressive for the country. The irate supporters, who would have none of his criticism, shouted him down when he mentioned the name of Alan Kyeremanteng, creating such cacophonous noise that it disorganized the meeting abruptly. As the atmosphere heated up, the MPs entourage quickly vamoosed with P.C Ofori taking refuge under a veranda nearby. For almost 30 minutes, the controversial MP, smartly dressed in Fugu and trousers sat quietly on a chair with beads of sweat on his forehead, while trying to figure out if the irate youth might harm him or not. It took the intervention of two bold party members to hold and escort him safely to his car where his entourage was already seated, ready to zoom off. At that instance, the former District Chief Executive, Adjei Domson appeared on the scene, which development sent the NPP members into a jubilant mood. Amidst drumming and dancing, they carried Mr. Domson shoulder high as they paraded through the streets of Odoben. Later in an interview with the Daily Guide newspaper, the supporters said they were disappointed at the MP because when Annan was nominated as the first vice chairman before the 2004 general elections, a number of them were encouraged to kidnap him as they were made to believe he was an alleged thief. The kidnapping of Annan, they claimed led to the arrest and imprisonment of some of the party supporters in the constituency and therefore they did not see how Appiah-Ofori would turn around and impose him on them. The MP had been the toast of the majority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament, embarrassing his own party several times. On one occasion, he taunted them �to go and commit suicide� if they were not pleased with his submissions on the floor of parliament.