The Eastern Regional Communication Directorate of the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, has denied the allegation of assault on a Daily Guide Journalist during the party’s annual delegates conference.
Daniel Bampoe, Eastern Regional Correspondent for Daily Guide was allegedly slapped by Eastern Regional Organizer Kwame Appiah Kodua who doubles as the Regional NADMO Director for allegedly sneaking into the conference hall to secretly record a closed-door meeting session of the conference.
The Journalist who is nursing his slap lesion has since petitioned the Party to take action against the Regional Organizer.
However, a statement issued on Monday by the Eastern Regional Communication Director of the NPP David Prah stated that ” the attention of the Eastern Regional Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been drawn to a publication in the media to the effect that, its Regional Organizer Mr. Kwame Appiah Kodua has assaulted a Daily Guide Reporter known as Daniel Bampoe during the just ended Eastern Regional Annual Delegates Conference at Kyebi.
The story indicates that Kwame Appiah Kodua slapped the said journalist.
The Eastern Regional Party wish to state emphatically that nothing of the sort happened and that the story is a fabrication, palpable lies aimed at ruining the success of the just-ended conference and tarnish the hard-won reputation of the Regional Organizer”
The statement further said “the Eastern Regional Annual Delegates Conference was in two sessions. The first was the opening session opened to the media, party officials, and delegates in the Eastern Region. The Second session was the business session exclusively for delegates in the region where proposed amendments and other party issues were discussed.
It is instructive to note that, the MC for the occasion double as the Regional Organizer of the party Kwame Appiah Kodua publicly announced after the first session that all journalists are not supposed to join the second session.
He reiterated this instruction before the commencement of the second session and intermittently announced the same.
Interestingly and for reasons best known to Daniel Bampoe who is not a party Communicator, Constituency, or Regional Executive Member or officer nor a delegate sneaked into the second session, sat behind the area designated for Members of Parliament, and covered his face with a hat. He sat secretly and kept glued to his phone.
Mr. Kwame Appiah Kodua spotted him and directed me the Director of Communications to walk him out of the auditorium since the business session wasn’t open for the media.
We gently went close and advised him to leave the auditorium but he engaged in a confrontation with us, asking whether he was an alien to us.
The confrontation raised eyebrows and attracted Mr. Kodua to the scene who only came to caution Daniel Bampoe not to mal the beauty of the program and left to continue as the MC of the program.
The security personnel who was at the scene gently walked him (Daniel Bampoe) out of the conference hall, took his phone and ensured that he hasn’t recorded the business session, and later handed over the phone to him”
According to the statement “the Regional Organizer never extended even his finger towards the journalist, let alone slapping him.
It is important to note that, our Regional Organizer who is a friend of the Media in the Region has comported himself over the years and never has a single record of violence.
The incident happened in presence of the general public and that the party dares Daniel Bampoe to produce evidence of assault or witness to that effect or a doctor’s report of the said assault.
The Party is, therefore, calling on the general public, media houses, and well-meaning Ghanaians to disregard the said publication and treat it with the contempt it deserves”
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
