The 2016 NDC parliamentary candidate for Ejisu Juaben in Ashanti, Gloria Huze, appears to have been vindicated over accusations she made in 2015, that the former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ejisu/Juaben, paid bribes to secure his nomination for a second term.
Yaw Afrifa Yamoah Ponko has confessed in a radio discussion to paying monies as bribes to various persons, including assembly members to secure his nomination in 2015.
“As I speak to you I am indebted to the tune of three billion old Cedis paid to Assembly Members to approve me to become MCE†he revealed on a local radio station, Nhyira Fm.
The revelations by the former MCE under erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) follows the rejection by Assembly Members of the President's nominee for MCE Serwaa Derchi. She is alleged to have paid an amount of 2,000 to each Assembly Member prior to the confirmation vote.
The nominee polled thirty (30) out of sixty-eight (68) votes cast, failing to secure the required two thirds majority needed for her confirmation.
Commenting on the development on Nhyiria FM in Kumasi, Yemoah Ponko alleged that civil servants together with some Assembly Members have hatched heinous plans to prevent Serwaa Derchi from getting confirmed.
According to him, senior administrators at the Assembly are determined to ensure no one is confirmed as MCE, so they can continue to run affairs without political interference and proper oversight.
Afrifa Yamoah Ponko however appealed to the Assembly members to endorse the nomination of Madam Derchi, to ensure quicker development of the municipality and to save the Assembly from corrupt administrators.
Mr Yamoah Ponkoh failed countless times to secure the approval of Assembly Members for a second term as MCE in 2015. He faced stiff opposition from NDC party executives and the people of the municipality, who claimed he was grossly disrespectful and corrupt during his first term.
The 2016 NDC parliamentary candidate for Ejisu Juaben, Gloria Huze, accused then Local Government Minister Collins Dauda of taking in excess of 300,000 cedis as bribe from Afrifa Yamoah Ponko to choose him over the party executive’s preferred candidate.
The accusations were vehemently denied by Collins Dauda and Yamoah Ponko, with the former threatening legal action against Madam Huze
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