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After a free for all fight including smashing of glass doors at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council in Kumasi, supporters of two parliamentary aspirants turned their anger on reporters who were covering the second day of vetting by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti region.

The fight was between the supporters of Francis Dodovi, an aide of the Ashanti Regional Minister and Brogya Genfi, Ashanti Regional Youth Organiser of the NDC.

The two young men are competing to get the nod of party delegates so as to be able to contest next year’s elections on the ticket of the NDC as Parliamentary candidate for Suame in Kumasi.

Last week some Suame constituency executives of the NDC held a press conference to announce that Brogya Genfi had been disqualified because he submitted fictitious documents including names of dead constituency members to support his nomination forms.

A day later, the Regional Secretary, Mr Raymond Tandoh came out to deny that Mr Genfi had been disqualified.

The party had scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday to vet all 106 aspirants in the Ashanti region but that of Suame was put on hold together with Subin and Asante Akyem North.

Graphic Online gathered that Brogya Genfi was currently in the UK on official business on behalf of the party and hence could not attend the vetting.

However his supporters and that of Dodovi clashed on Wednesday during the vetting at the Regional Coordinating Council.

Angered by the fact that journalists who were present covering the vetting captured the fight, they turned their anger on the reporters.

The Daily Graphic Reporter, Donald Ato Dapatem was accosted by some of the macho men who had exchanged blows, and accused him of taking shots of the fight. They wanted him to hand over his equipment to them so as to enable them search and delete, if he had captured the fight.

It took the intervention of a Ghanaian Observer reporter, Michael Ofosu Afriyie to save him from the hands of the macho men.

One woman identified as Adwoa Mary from the Nhyiaeso Constituency mistook a cameraman from Metro TV for the Daily Graphic reporter and pointed to Dapatem as the one who took shots of the fight.

Afriyie who was around where the macho men had gathered immediately intervened to prevent the reporter who was also trying to move away from the surging macho men from being manhandled.

Later some of the macho men rushed to the Metro TV camera man, Abdel Basit but he told them that his camera was faulty and that he did not take the shots. Party members who filmed the fight were forced to delete them.

Vetting

A total of four aspirants have so far been disqualified in the Ashanti region. They are Jerry John Appiah of Fomena, Dumega Maku of Sekyere Afram Plains, Justice Attuahene of Asante Akim Central and Pasiru Ammisah of Manhyia North.