The New Patriotic Party (NPP) branch in the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira Constituency as well as the party’s youth in the Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region have dismissed calls for the removal of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Gas Company Limited, Dr Ben KD Asante.
Protests by some irate youth on Sunday, October 30 marred the grand durbar of the 2022 Kundum Festival in Atuabo, where dignitaries including the Board Chairman of Ghana Gas, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, gathered for the climax of the festival.
The youth are said to be calling for an Nzema to be appointed the CEO of Ghana Gas instead of Dr Ben KD Asante.
But in a statement to lend unflinching support to Dr Asante, the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira NPP said Ghana Gas has now become a household name in the constituency due to the numerous projects undertaken since 2017, when the current CEO took office.
“It is very worrying for a true party person to call for the head of Dr Ben Asante just on the basis that he is not an Nzema,” the statement issued by Constituency Chairman Nana Effate Beyeeman on Tuesday, November 1 said.
“The NPP does not believe in tribalism and we urge the president to disregard this call. It will be a recipe for chaos, defeat national cohesion and unity.
“We are peace loving people and will never tolerate tribalistic behavior and comments that seeks to break the very fibre that bring us together as a nation.
“We therefore condemn in no uncertain terms, the call from these so called concern Ellembelle NPP youth and dissociate ourselves from it.”
Meanwhile, another section of NPP youth in Ellembelle are pointing fingers at the current District Chief Executive (DCE) as the one behind the calls for the removal of Dr Ben KD Asante.
“It is worth noting that the demonstrators numbering about ten(10) are mainly Hon. Kwasi Bonzoh’s errand boys,” a statement on Tuesday alleged.
“In fact, some of them were part of those who were arrested together with the DCE in connection with the missing excavators at Nkroful.
“On record, we are very fortunate to have Dr. Ben Asante for his unflinching support for Nzema and Ghana at large. Since his appointment in 2017 by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the same team led by Hon. Kwasi Bonzoh organized a demonstration against this same Dr. Asante that the president ‘must’ appoint him Kwasi Bonzoh as Ghana Gas CEO.”
They outlined some of the feats chalked by the Company under the leadership of Dr Asante, urging the President “to disregard the call from some few Esiama youth for Kwasi Bonzoh to disrupt and derail the developmental agenda of Ellembelle District and the Nzemaland at large”.