�Antoa Nyamaa� Will Kill You �DCE Invokes Local Deity On Assemblymen

As if the recent �Vote of No Confidence threat by some assembly members in the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Afigya-Kwabre District Assembly is not enough pressure, he is to face Otumfuo�s Nsumankwahene, in connection with the alleged invocation of the Antoa river goddess against his adversaries. Mr. Kaakyere Oppong Kyekyeku is being dragged before the traditional priest to compel him to revoke a curse, in accordance with Ashanti custom. The embattled DCE has incurred the wrath of the Assembly Member for the Afrancho electoral area, Fredua Agyemang, in whose presence the DEC invoked the powers of the Antoa Nyamaa against the assembly members, who wrongly accused him (DC) of administrative lapses and financial mismanagement. The DCE was accused of purchasing two tipper trucks for the Afigya-District Assembly from the District Assembly�s Common Fund, without the approval of the general assembly. Other allegations leveled against him were that the DCE had formed an Executive Committee of the Assembly, by choosing his favorites, despite resistance from most of the assembly members, fixing of streetlights in the district by the DCE without prior approval by the assembly, and the refusal to provide the Presiding Member with an Office. When the two (DCE and Fredua Agyemang) met at the premises of Fox FM in Kumasi last Friday for a radio programme, the DCE thought it was the best forum to defend the allegation over the award of contract for the construction of a public place of convenience at Afrancho, and invoked Antoa Nyamaa against his accusers. The Afrancho Assembly Member, who was in the company of another Assembly Member, Robert Owusu, demanded that the curse be reversed, to which the DCE claims he obliged. But the Assembly Member is not happy with it, because by Ashanti custom, a curse could only be reversed at the shrine of Antoa, or under the supervision of Otumfuo�s Nsumankwahene. As a result, Fredua Ageman, upon deliberations with relations and his family, intends dragging the DCE to the Nsumankwahene to perform the rites, and settle the matter once and for all. But the DCE would have nothing to do with the Nsumankwahene. He told The Chronicle on Saturday on phone that he revoked the curse instantly, once there was no way he would go to that extent. Mr. Oppong Kyekyeku also added that notwithstanding the revocation, he had also gone to the house of Fredua Agyeman, in the company of a deputy Co-ordinator and one Eric Yeboah, a Unit Committee member of Afrancho, to explain to him (Fredua) that the curse was not intended for him. Meanwhile, the Assembly is yet to convene a meeting to deliberate on the proposed �Vote of No Confidence� in the DCE, as a meeting last Tuesday ended in a stalemate. Eighteen of the members who appended their signatures to the request for a meeting for the Vote of No Confidence in the DCE have dissociated themselves from the move, saying the plan was hatched by four ringleaders, who tricked them into believing that their signatures were needed for an emergency meeting on the purchase of motorbikes for the assembly members. The four assembly members were named as the member for the Krobo Electoral Area, Mr. Newton Owusu, Mr. Nkrumah Poku Duncan, representing Brofoyedru, Robert Owusu of Sasa/Bomso, and Peter Domfeh for the Abromah-Soko Electoral Area.