Paramount chiefs petition President to withdraw nominee
Barely a week after the President had nominated a new chief executive for the Kadjebi District in the Volta Region, the paramount chiefs of the eight traditional areas in the district have petitioned the President to withdraw the nomination because of various allegations made against the nominee.
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According to the petition signed by the paramount chiefs of the Ahamanasu, Ampeyo, Asato, Dapaa, Kadjebi and Pampawie traditional areas, and distributed at a press conference last Thursday, the nominee, Mr Jacob Alebinde Asogonde, was allegedly involved in a scandal at his workplace at the Department of Social Welfare and consequently transferred from Ho to Kadjebi in 1996.
The petition further alleged that the nominee had to resign from the Kadjebi office of the Department of Social Welfare under similar circumstances and later founded a non-governmental organisation known as Better Life Organisation.
It stated that under the NGO, he exploited circumstances of some physically challenged persons to access funds for his personal use and he set up a welfare scheme under the pretext of doing micro finance but failed to reward or refund money collected from his clients under the micro-finance scheme.
The petitioned disclosed the cell phone numbers of some people allegedly swindled by the nominee as 0543525313, 0206999475, 0246273500, 0205062029 and 0242666679 and that they were ready to testify to any credible committee that may invite them for evidence.
It further claimed that the vetting process for the selection of a candidate for the post of District Chief Executive was not transparent and scrupulous.
“When Nananom were being consulted by the security apparatus about the profile of those contesting for the position, Mr Asogonde’s name was not mentioned anywhere. Nananom, therefore, strongly believe that there has been a deliberate attempt to ‘smuggle’ him through the corridors of power and impose him on the chiefs and people of the Kadjebi District”, the petition stated.
It said the ability and capacity to unify the district for development was in doubt because he had led a group to cause division in the party in the Akan Constituency and added that he was the principal architect of a scheme to remove nine very strong members, including constituency chairman and secretary, and the youth took the matter to court.
The petition further stated that the nominee did not come from the district or region and therefore was seriously handicapped in terms of understanding the culture, traditions and language of the majority of the people and therefore lacked a key asset that could greatly enhance communication between him and the local people for accelerated development.
It stated that Nananom took a lot of effort to prevail upon their children not to take the law into their own hands to register their great anger and displeasure on the nomination of Mr Asogonde and pleaded that the next nominee should be considered from the Akan Wawa part of the district to enhance a geo-political balance.
The petition was addressed to President John Dramani Mahama and copied to Mr Asogonde, the Volta Regional Minister, the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and the national security coordinator.