New Patriotic Party (NPP) Central Regional Branch, has petitioned the Regional Police Command, indicating a series of violent activities orchestrated by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, Casiel Ato Forson, and urging the police to at all times monitor the MP’s movements to prevent any violence that may be unleashed on the people.
According to the NPP, the three-time MP has since 2009,constantly and persistently been unleashing violence on the people of Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, especially, members and sympathizers of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition with the firm belief that such act is the only option to deploy to sustain his incumbency and also retain the seat for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
At a press conference held in Ajumako-Besease on Friday, August 7, 2020, to highlights on the series of attacks and violence in the constituency during the just ended voters’ registration exercise, the Regional Secretary of the NPP, Richard Takyi Mensah, detailed series of activities allegedly orchestrated by Mr. Forson using land guards and macho men before and after winning the 2008 parliamentary election of the area.
“Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam Constituency had been peaceful all this while until Ato Forson appeared on the political scene in 2008 as the NDC Parliamentary Candidate. Since then, Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam has been the breeding ground for political violence. To take you down memory lane, Ato Forson with his NDC hoodlums attacked NPP supporters who had embarked on a peaceful keep-fit exercise on the Ajumako-Techiman road in 2008 which saw some NPP supporters sustaining various degrees of injury. Also, Ato Forson’s aide, by name frank Arnold Otchere attacked innocent people who were in a queue to take part in the 2012 Voters’ Registration Exercise. In the same 2012, Ato Forson’s marauding supporters attacked NPP supporters at a mini-rally at Ajumako Assasan where an NPP supporter, by name Kwesi Bon, was stabbed on the nose”, Mr. Mensah said.
On the other hand, the NPP said “in October 2016, Ato Forson and his land guards attacked NPP Constituency Officers at Mr. Okyere’s (an NPP elder) house in Besease in which attack Kojo Abaasa (a.k.a Rasta), Tuafic Alhasssan, Osei Brobbey and one Alex (Mr. Okyere’s driver) were stabbed which resulted in life-threatening injuries. It the course of this attack, they vandalized the NPP Parliamentary Candidate’s Nissan Patrol vehicle and the NPP Constituency Secretary’s Taxicab.”
Making a statement on the recent violent activities in the constituency, the NPP said the unfolding events does not surprise them when the former deputy Minister of Finance is in the helm of affairs as the MP for the area.
The party also drew the attention of the police to a video which went viral on social media where Mr. Forson was heard loudly telling a group of young men and women he had met and was arranging to bus them to the constituency for them to be registered and requesting them to support him to retain the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam parliamentary seat where he is likely to be appointed Minister of Finance in the unlikely situation that former President Mahama becomes the next President of the Republic to buttress their claim.
Notwithstanding that fact, the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam lawmaker is also heard in another video shouting on top of his voice that he does not fear anybody and therefore urged his supporters to remain resolute.
“Some of these Ato Forson land guards were those who were arrested by the police at YAN Guest House in Mankessim during the Voters Registration Exercise. These Ato Forson Landguards/Machomen were numbering about two hundred and were always seen in Urvan/Coastal buses and pick-up vehicles moving from registration center to another creating scenes, beating people, and causing all forms of violence within the constituency”, Takyi Mensah explained.
Despite the pockets of violence recorded in the constituency and the subsequent arrest made by the Police, some registration centers in the area continued to witness chaos with the NDC Regional Executives accusing some NPP bigwigs of masterminding attacks on perceived NDC supporters at a polling station in Ajumako-Besease.
Worried about the violent happenings in Ajumako-Besease, the NPP has called on the Police to intensify their investigations and fish out the perpetrators.
