ASHAIMAN NDC TASK FORCE TAKES OVER PLACES OF CONVENIENCE (DAILY GRAPHIC, JULY 14, PAGE 16)

THE Ashaiman NDC task force led by Eric Brown-Voryee, who was instrumental in the seizure of the “Kufour” Lorry Park in the municipality, has taken over the 21 places of convenience which generated much tension soon after the swearing in of the President on January 7, 2009.
This move,on Thursday dawn, comes four months after a Tema High Court presided over by Justice Nana Gyamera Tawiah had amicably settled a suit filed by the Ashaiman Toilets Contractors Association against the NDC Constituency Secretary, Mr Ibrahim Bawa, and Organiser, Habel Adjei.
When Daily Graphic visited one of the facilities in the community, operators manning the place told this reporter that they had been positioned there by the leadership of the task force to manage and render accounts to them.
Mr Abdullai Abdullah, spokesperson for the group, later told the Daily Graphic that their decision to act was as a result of continuous plea to the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to provide jobs to the over 400 members of the team who toured the entire country in the heat of the 2008 election campaign.
He said failure on the part of the party hierarchy to heed to their persistent appeals had worsened member’s financial state due to their unemployed state.
He indicated that the leadership of the task force had to employ 160 members to manage the facilities.
Mr Emmanuel Nii Koi Dsane, Presiding Member of the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, confirmed the seizure when he was contacted by the Daily Graphic in his office.
He indicated that following the unfortunate occurrence, he and the constituency executive of the NDC, led by its chairman, Alhaji Braimah Issifu, had convened a meeting with the youth leadership to impress upon them to hand over the facilities to the operators, and promised the assembly’s commitment to address their plight.
However, the spokesperson for the task force,Mr Abdullai, indicated that they would hand over to the assembly on condition that managers of the facilities were their members who would be impressed upon to render accounts to the chaperon appointed by the assembly and not the operators who, according to the group, were members and functionaries of the opposition New Patriotic Party(NPP).
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the operator’s association, Mr Richard Ahwireng, told the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview that they had filed an official complaint at the Ashaiman Police Station pending the outcome of investigations.
The Ashaiman Divisional Crime Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Theophilus Nartey, who toured some of the facilities also confirmed the take over and indicated that the case was being investigated.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Addison Adinortey Numo, could however not comment on the seizure as he told the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview that he was yet to be briefed by the Presiding member, as he had been attending a series of meetings at the regional Co-ordinating Council.
Places of convenience in Ashaiman became a subject of controversy when the ruling National Democratic Congress won power in the last general elections.
Members of the ruling party had accused the contractors who were alleged to be members of the opposition NPP of a similar take over in 2001 when the latter won in that year’s general elections.