Blows Herald NDC Congresses

The ongoing congresses by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to elect its constituency executives have degenerated into violence, with the supporters of some of the contestants attacking their opponents, resulting in fatal injuries. At Agona Asafo and Dzodze in the Central and Volta Regions respectively, the police had to call in reinforcements to quell violence that broke out over the elections. The Ketu North Constituency election held at Dzodze, the district capital, last Friday, was disrupted following a dispute over the authenticity of the party membership card of Mr. Moses Azaglo, a former party chairman who wanted to contest for the chairmanship position again. The constituency secretary of the party, reportedly, wrote a protest letter to the regional secretariat at ho, that Moses Azaglo�s membership card was a fake. The attention of the functional and regional executives was drawn to the protest letter when the election was about to start. The protest compelled the executives of the party to hold a meeting in camera, to try and resolve the dispute, but the Regional Chairman, Mr Modestus Ahiable, insisted that Azaglo�s card was a fake, and that he must step down from the race. EVIDENCE Azaglo, who was invited to the meeting, insisted that he holds valid membership card, which he issued to himself, with ID number KTN-00001, when he became chairman of the party, from 1996-2006. According to him, he was the same person who issued the membership card for the Regional Chairman, Mr Ahiable, with registration number KTN-0002. Azaglo was therefore surprised that the same Ahiable would turn round to accuse him of holding a fake membership card. The embattled former chairman further argued that after he had prepared the list of members who were looking for cards, it was the same Ahiable who went to the national headquarters of the party in Accra, to bring down the cards for distribution to members who had applied for it. He told the meeting that when the cards were brought, he noticed that some of them had not been signed by the National Chairman, and he subsequently drew Ahiable�s attention to it, but the latter told him that there was nothing wrong with it, and that those cards were still valid. This explanation nearly resulted in an exchange of blows, compelling the director for the election, Francis Doe, to postpone the election to November 17th after consultations with the National Chairman. When the delegates to the congress were informed about the development, and the decision to postpone the elections, tempers flared up, scaring staff of the Electoral Commission (EC), who were to conduct the election, making them sneak out from the congress grounds. The delegates accused Mr Modestus Ahiable of being a dictator, and trying to impose his will on them. Speaking to The Chronicle, Mr Azaglo said he supported Mr Ahiable from 1996-2000, which made it possible for him to become a Member of Parliament, but decided to withdraw his support for him in 2004, and this resulted in him losing the constituency primary to the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, Mr James Avedzi. According to him, Mr Ahiable blamed him (Azaglo) for the defeat and vowed to work against him in the party. Azaglo alleged that in 2005, Ahiable supported one Mr Joseph Arthur Azakpo against him when he stood for the position of a Constituency Chairman. He further alleged that when the President nominated him as the District Chief Executive for Ketu-North, Mr Ahiable manipulated his way through, which made it impossible for him to be confirmed. He said the latest involvement of Ahiable in the constituency election, should serve as a strong signal to the party that the Regional Chairman could destroy the party, not only a the constituency level, but in the entire region. Meanwhile, all efforts to let Mr Ahiable to react to the allegations failed, as his phones indicated that he was out of coverage area. AT AGONA ASAFO Meanwhile, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reports from Agona Asafo that police reinforcements from Agona Swedru were dispatched to the Agona township, in the Central Region, to quell violence which erupted after the election of the Agona East Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The violence started when supporters of Alhaji Gyabiru Ibrahim, who lost the election to Mr Jonathan Kwame Abban, Managing Director of Pioneer Distillery Company Limited, started attacking people on sight at the AME Zion Church premises. The five police personnel, who were on duty, found it difficult to maintain law and order, hence the reinforcements from the Swedru District Police Command. The aggrieved supporters deflated the tyres of a car belonging to Mr Martin Luther Obeng, a leading member of the NDC at Agona East. Supporters of Mr Abban also sustained injuries. Before the election, supporters of Alhaji Gyaburi chanted war songs and carried placards, some of which read: �No Alhaji no vote. �Gyabiru would never step down.� �if Alhaji loses, blood would flow,� and �executives of the constituency do not speak the truth.� Mr Abban polled 116 of the 192 votes to beat Alhaji Gyaburi, who attracted 76 votes. Mr Abban was whisked into a police vehicle to Agona Swedru, after being taken hostage for about 50 minutes. The violence delayed the declaration of the election results by Mr Kwame Amoah, the Agona West Municipal Electoral Officer.