Members belonging to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Task Force in the Ashanti region last Saturday held their regional party executives hostage at the Regional Coordinating Council after the president’s second day of touring the region.
The members, made up of various groups of heavily built macho men, demanded that the security detail of the president releases the regional executives for them to be disciplined for daring to squander “goodies” which they claim the president sent to them last year.
The macho men who have been complaining of neglect by their party executives for some time now would stop at nothing unless they discipline the regional NDC executives.
And not even the presence of the heavily armed presidential security team could deter them.
After several persuasions from the president’s team failed, President John Dramani Mahama then ordered the Ashanti regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong, to listen to their plights and address them immediately, which he promptly did.
Grapevine sources within the agitators whispered to this reporter that the executives had ‘ambushed’ their reward for the good work they did for the party from the National Registration Exercise through to the 2012 General Elections.
“Had it not been for our group, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would have registered minors in the region and also rigged the elections.
“We laid down our lives for the party while they were sleeping around with girls, and now they are not only driving huge cars, but are also withholding the little which the president says they should give to us… tonight we will finish them,” one of them said angrily.
The regional minister after listening to them promised to ‘sort them out soon.’
That intervention by the minister calmed most of them down, even though there were a few who thought they had been deceived again.
The nasty situation sent very bad signals to many party foot soldiers who were also loitering around to catch a glimpse of the president for the last since the Supreme Court landmark case ruling over the 2012 presidential elections.