The attempt by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Johnny Osei Kofi to use a parallel campaign team outside National Democratic Congress (NDC) constituency executives is brewing tension in Oforikrom where he is contesting as parliamentary candidate.
Some members who are livid by the divide and rule tactics of the former Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) lecturer are threatening to vote for the opposition parliamentary aspirant.
Last week, during a studio interview with a popular radio station, Fox Fm in Kumasi, some disgruntled members of the party pounced on the parallel team who had accompanied the Deputy Chief of Staff to the station and beat them to pulp.
The action, which took place in the full glare of the candidate who was said to have been firmly rooted to his seat, nearly resulted in the destruction of studio equipment.
However, the intervention of the station’s security detail prevented what could have been a nasty scene at the popular radio station.
ALLEGATIONS:
Speaking to the Ghanaian Observer Newspaper in Kumasi on condition of anonymity, a member of the youth wing of the constituency accused Mr Osei Kofi of abandoning the party executives.
He disclosed the candidate had formed campaign committees without the involvement of the constituency executives.
Mr Osei Kofi is also said to have failed to meet party executives before and after the presidential primaries where President Mahama stood unopposed.
Sounding worried, the NDC member noted it was the same executives that had worked tirelessly during the primaries to ensure the Deputy Chief of Staff went unopposed as the party’s parliamentary aspirant.
TATTERED CAMPAIGN:
The Oforikrom NDC, according to our source has no campaign strategy since the PC had not briefed them about his plans.
Party executives, he claimed gather at the constituency office to chat the day away and are denied resources to commence a planned door to door campaign.
According to him, some known members of the party had either quit the NDC or refused to attend constituency meetings due to what they termed as neglect by their candidate.
The Oforikrom constituency, being a stronghold of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the youth wing member feared the NDC would lose heavily if the candidate is not brought to book or changed for a better person to work with the constituency executives.
