NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC Congress Chairman for the Kintampo North Constituency in the Brong Ahafo region, Osman Maanu, is alleged to have organised thugs in the party to lock up the municipal office of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).
The Chairman, who was said to have made several unsuccessful attempts to hijack the local NYEP office, allegedly mobilized some youth in the party to close down the office on Monday night, January 17, after a meeting in Sunyani where officials resolved the impasse between him and the programme’s coordinator.
At the time of filing this report, the Kintampo Municipal NYEP office had been locked up and all activities at the centre had come to a halt.
Osman Maanu, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said he personally ordered the youth to close down the office because the Municipal NYEP Coordinator, Philip Ankomah, had refused to take instructions from the party executives.
According to the party Chairman, the NYEP coordinator had turned down on several occasions, the list of people the constituency executives submitted to him to be considered for employment at the NYEP. He said he had taken the matter to the regional minister, who set up a committee to look into the matter but the committee was yet to give its verdict on the issue.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ankomah told this paper that the NDC constituency Chairman and his executives wanted to take over the operations of the programme in the municipality by determining which people he should or should not recruit.
According to him, the NYEP was a national programme and for that matter recruitment was based on merit and not reserved for the members of one particular political party. Mr. Ankomah explained that Mr. Maanu wanted him to submit the list of applicants to him for them (the chairman and his executives) to do their own selection. The coordinator said because he refused to do that to please the party executives, they were aggrieved and made all sorts of unsubstantiated allegations against him so as to get him out of the office.
Mr. Ankomah further noted that the matter was brought to the authorities in Sunyani on Monday, January 17, where all the executives were summoned and asked to allow the programme to operate without any interference until the committee finished its investigations.
He noted however that the next day when he went to the office, he realised that it had been locked up. Eyewitnesses told him that the Chairman had hired some thugs to close down the office.
According to Mr. Ankomah, the incident was reported to the police but the municipal police commander advised him to stay away from the office for his own safety until the misunderstanding was settled.