Today can report that tension is brewing up in the Ashanti regional branch of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
This follows the decision of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in awarding the Kajetia terminal contract to Freko FD Company Limited.
Investigations by the paper revealed that some high profile NDC members in the region have constituted themselves into a group, and are extremely annoyed by the decision of Mr Samuel Sarpong, the Mayor of Kumasi, to award the Kejetia terminal contract to Freko FD Company, for the second time. They have therefore described Mr Sarpong as a ‘traitor and coward’.
Samuel Sarpong, Mayor of Kumasi
According to the irate NDC members, the action of the Kumasi mayor was one of betrayal and lack of fairness towards them. The group believes the Kejetia terminal contract should have been awarded to NDC members and not Freko FD Company Limited.
Digging deep into the matter, Today learnt that the main reason why this group of NDC members in the region was peeved was because they could not understand why the Sarpong administration would, for the second time, award the contract to Freko FD Ltd. They believe that Freko FD has ties with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and should not have been given the contract.
According to the group, the contract should be been given to NDC members now that the party is in power. What was most irking the group, the paper discovered, was the fact that none of party’s executives who applied for the contract was considered.
Following this, the group has vowed to go every mile to ensure that the mayor of Kumasi is relieved of his post. The mondus operandi of Mr Sarpong’s opponents, Today found out, include fabricating stories to Castle, the seat of government, to the effect that the Kumasi mayor was engaged in awarding contracts to his favourites. They also intend to make the case that the mayor was not up to the task.
Members of this NDC group who are interested in the Kejetia terminal were also of the opinion that Freko FD Company Ltd., did not win the first one on merit during the immediate past NPP government.
Debriefing Today, a source who attended the tender, disclosed that most of the companies that came were owned by NDC members.
“But against all these Freko FD Company Ltd., won the contract,” the source told the paper.
Freko FD Ltd., which has been managing the Kejetia terminal for sometime now, has not been having it easy at all, especially as members of the NDC in the region were seen constantly threatening them because they believe the owner of the company is a strong sympathiser of the NPP. These threats have sometimes nearly led to brawls between NDC and NPP members who sell their wares at the terminal.
Today further learnt that when the news broke out that the management contract had been given to Freko, some ardent NDC members swore heaven and earth to contest the decision branding the mayor as a ‘traitor and a coward person’.
However, deep throat party sources hinted the paper over the weekend that Mr Sarpong who is perceived to be with the Rawlings’ faction within the NDC was aware of orchestrated plots by some NDC elements in the region to have him removed from office.
The paper also gathered that a press conference organised last month by the Metro Coordinating Committee (MCC) of the NDC to shower praises on the mayor was one of the moves by supporters of Mr Sarpong to counter the smear campaigns embarked upon by his detractors.
At the said press conference, which the paper reported in its Monday, February 22, 2010 edition, members of MCC described Mr Sarpong as a ‘real pivot and pillar of the NDC in the region’.
STORY: FROM JAMES APPIAKORANG JNR., KUMASI