By Prince Acquah
Apam (C/R), Sept 17, GNA – Mr. Richard Gyan-Mensah, the Gomoa West Member of Parliament (MP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate (PC), has apologised for Monday afternoon’s mayhem at Apam over the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) equipment programme.
The MP in a radio interview accepted “partial responsibility” for the incident and offered an apology to the chiefs and people of Gomoa West for the action they took.
Mr. Gyan-Mensah, however, denied the allegations that he carried some dangerous weapons to the scene and caused harm, describing the allegations as complete falsehood.
“….. the same person, I was holding a knife [and] the same person, I was holding a pistol. I didn’t go there with any of these,” he insisted.
The commotion was over the branding of the DRIP equipment by Mr. Bismark Baisie Inkoom, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) PC, with his posters which the NDC group took strong exception to.
The MP and his supporters stormed the District Assembly’s premises during the inauguration of the construction machines to demand the removal of the posters.
The opposition party argued that the machines belonged the district and not the NPP PC and, therefore, denounced the branding.
The demand for the removal of the posters and resistance from both sides culminated in a violent clash which saw some people bleeding.
The feuding parties were seen wielding and brandishing machetes, knives, chains and dangerous weapons and confronting one another brutally in the presence of the police who tried to calm the situation helplessly.
The chaos prompted the chiefs and other persons present for the inauguration to flee for their lives.
Mr Inkoom, who is also the Gomoa West District Chief Executive (DCE), has since lodged an official complaint with the police for the arrest of the sitting MP over the incident.
Speaking in the same interview, he accused the MP of storming the inaugural ceremony uninvited and causing trouble with his supporters.
He alleged that the MP, in the company of his supporters, showed up at the event holding a pistol and a knife and personally injured a machine operator in the ear.
He explained that the programme was exclusively meant for the chiefs in the area and therefore the MP was not expected to be there.
“He was not invited to the programme, the programme was not meant for him, but he came in to disrupt it…
“…So, I have lodged a formal complaint. We cannot sit down for an honourable Member of Parliament to exhibit this hooliganism and to show disrespect to the chiefs and people of Gomoa West,” he said.
“…It doesn’t matter whether he is the Member of Parliament or not, the law is no respecter of any class of persons,” he stressed.
Mr. Inkoom justified the branding of the equipment, indicating that he was taking advantage of the “good works” of his government and pointed fingers at the NDC for doing same.
He accused the NDC PC of branding mathematical sets which had been procured with his Common Fund with his pictures.
“When he goes to rent a grader, he puts his pictures on it. Is it his money? When Ex-President Mahama commissioned some few E-blocks, didn’t he put his pictures all over them? When the Ayalolo buses were brought into the country…. didn’t he see the picture of the president all over?” he queried.
Meanwhile, the MP has denied ever branding any item procured with the Common Fund with party colours.
He has also expressed his readiness to cooperate with the police to assist in investigations.
GNA