DCE Arrests Journalists, Unleashes Violence On NDC Foot Soldiers And Openly Declares War

The Wassa Amenfi District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Stephen Badu Achemapong, has declared war on his own party foot soldiers, journalist as well as most of the constituency executive, accusing them of exposing corrupt practices under his administration. He has accordingly threatened them with curses should they continue with their criticisms and other allegations against his person and administration. True his words, the Wassa Amenfi East DCE on 1st of May, 2014 ordered the arrest of three journalists, who had been assigned to cover the Assembly Meeting of the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly at Wassa Akropong. The arrest came at the time the world over was celebrating workers day. Earlier, Mr. Stephen Badu Acheampong, had similarly ordered some macho men to beat up the NDC youth organizer in the constituency, Mr. Michael Anim, for spreading falsehood about him, a situation which nearly degenerated into open and free-for-all fight at Wassa Akropong and its environs. Investigations conducted by this paper revealed that, some concerned members of the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly in the Western Region were up in arms against their DCE, Mr. Stephen Badu Acheampong, accusing him of stealing 17 excavators that were seized by the Presidential Task Force from some Chinese, who were mining gold illegally in the district. According to the Assembly members, the 17 excavators had vanished into thin air without a trace of their whereabouts. Several attempts for the DCE to as a matter of urgency, produce the excavators or face impeachment from the Assembly have fallen on deaf ears. Briefing newsmen at Wassa Akropong, the concerned Assembly members said, they would do everything possible for the Assembly to retrieve the �missing� excavators, which they suspect have been sold by Mr. Stephen Badu Achemappong to his cronies in the district for illegal mining known in the vicinity as �galamsey. �After the Presidential Task Force seized the machines, we the Assembly Members came to the conclusion after a lengthy debate that, any one that comes to claim the excavators will have to pay 30,000 Ghana Cedis each before collecting them. Surprisingly, all the 17 excavators have been collected, yet the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly does not have a penny in its accounts as monies collected from owners of the seized excavators. It will interest you to know that, the Assembly owns over 40 million Ghana cedis from various sites to the Assembly. Can you believe this? Is this not a tale? We the concerned Assembly members therefore appeal to President John Dramani Mahama to remove our DCE from office. We know he is fighting corruption in the system and ours is a clear example of corrupt leadership.� The assembly members also alleged that, the DCE was personally involve in some of the illegal mining activities in the district citing Wassa Jukwa Community as one of his areas of operation. Sensing that, the party may suffer in the 2016 general elections, the NDC Youth Organizer, Mr. Michael Anim and some NDC foot soldiers went to the DCE to ascertain the truth about concerns raised by the Assembly members. The New Independent learnt that, Mr. Stephen Badu Achampong did not take kindly to what they came to do in his residence and subsequently ordered some macho men, who ambushed Mr. Anim and the foot soldiers, who gave them severe beatings. But in an interview with newsmen, the Wassa Amenfi East DCE, Mr. Stephen Badu Acheampong denied the allegation leveled against him accusing his detractors of tarnishing his hard won reputation and dignity.