Eric Osei Owusu, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Afram Plains South in the Eastern Region, has revealed that Mark Oliver-Kevor, the party’s Regional Secretary, worked hard to undermine him during the 2016 general elections.
Mr Owusu accused Mr Kevor of bribing the electorate to vote against him on the election day.
“Kevor, who was holding huge amount of money, moved from house to house to give money to the electorate to vote against me,” the NDC MP said.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that there was exchange of blows at a meeting held between Mr Owusu, Mr Kevor and his deputy Francis Annor Dompreh.
The party’s National Organizer Kofi Adams and 1st Vice Chairperson Anita Desoso attempted to resolve the impasse at a meeting convened by the Regional Chairman Bismarck Tawiah Boateng.
It would be recalled that three months to the 2016 general elections, then ruling NDC withdrew its parliamentary candidate Joseph Appiah, who was the incumbent MP, from the race over fears that a case of fraud for which he was convicted overseas could be resurface.
As a result, the Regional Secretary Mark Oliver-Kevor, who hails from the Kwahu East Constituency, wanted to contest in Afram Plains South with the tacit support of some NDC gurus.
Eric Osei Owusu lost to Joseph Appiah in the party’s primaries and the MP felt he should be given the chance after his main contender stepped down.
The issue turned bizarre when NDC National Chairman Kofi Portuphy travelled to the area and introduced Mr Kevor to the Electoral Commission (EC) as the main parliamentary candidate for the area, but the party’s General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah also introduced Eric Osei Owusu, who was finally chosen by the party.
There has not been peace since the NDC was booted out of office, as the regional secretary, MP and the constituency chairman Mr Boamah have been at each other’s throat.
The party hierarchy has decided to resolve the impasse before the branch elections of the NDC commence.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that during the meeting, the Regional Secretary and his deputy made references and in the process mentioned the name of the late father of the MP, but the MP did not take kindly to the issue.
“I was angry at the meeting, but never removed my shirt to fight anyone. I wasn’t happy with their posture towards me so I tried to speak my mind at the meeting,” the MP said, adding “Kevor, who is undermining my efforts in the party, accepted his mistakes and apologized for that.”
“He was bribing people to vote against me because he wanted to become the MP and didn’t get the chance. When he was quizzed, he said that he was only giving the electorate money to motivate them to vote for the NDC.”
The MP told DAILY GUIDE that he would not like to use the media to solve his problems since he was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.
Anita Desoso, in an interaction with Radio One, a private station at Bunso Junction, admitted that there was a misunderstanding at the said meeting but denied that the two exchanged blows.
The Regional Chairman Tawiah Boateng, when contacted by the paper, said “I am at a funeral and can’t speak to any issue for now.”
Mark Oliver Kevor said the misunderstanding resulted in verbal exchanges, but denied that he bribed the electorate to vote against the NDC MP.
“It is never true that I did that. How is it possible for me to carry money from house to house to share to the electorate to vote against our own party member?”
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