Chief Executive for the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly in the Western Region, Gilbert Ken Asmah, went berserk when one Mr Victor Baffour Awuah, a broadcast journalist and host of the Morning Show on Pure FM drew his attention to some corrupt practices of some staff of the Assembly.
Source at the assembly, alleged the MCE who is becoming a tyrant in the municipality, personally called the producer of the program as well as the host and openly rained insults and curses on them, threatening them for merely raising concerns over some alleged corrupt acts which he is presiding over in the assembly.
The source explained that most staffs of the assembly are involved in shady deals including inflating of prices, extortion and financial impropriety of which the MCE has put a blind eye to.
The source further noted that evidences suggest there are some close pals of the MCE who have been demanding huge sums of money from contractors before contracts are awarded and this, the MCE is heavily profiting from.
“It was one of such extortion sprees that Mr Baffour Awuah got wind of and raised the issue on air during the November 2, 2017 edition of his show dubbed ‘Maakyi’, with a call on Mr Asmah to take urgent action. The call to action by the journalist obviously infuriated the MCE,” our source stated.
“It is apparent that the MCE does not respect anybody in the municipality, he thinks everybody is under his control thus nobody dare talk, cough nor sneeze in the municipality concerning his poor style of leadership,” the source further added.
When Mr Baffour Awuah, was reached on phone, he confirmed the story. According to him, he had information that some staff of the assembly were engaged in some corrupt acts and upon further investigations, it came to light that the allegations were true. “Thus I called the MCE’s attention to but he did not take this harmless plea kindly at all”, he stated.
“It is unbelievable and shameful to say the least that a man of his calibre, occupying such a high office would use such vulgar and unprintable words on a journalist simply because he is carrying out his duties,” Mr Baffour Awuah lamented.
According to the host the MCE verbally abused him on phone saying, “Who told you I’m presiding over corruption in the assembly? You people sit in your two by four (2×4) FM stations and talk rubbish.”
“You wait and see, I’m not finished with you yet. What will happen to you is on its way coming. You haven’t seen anything yet,” the Tarkwa-Nsuaem MCE is said to have reiterated.
When asked what he (Baffour Awuah) was going to do concerning the curses and threats the MCE had pronounced on his life, he answered in the affirmative, saying the issue is currently in the hands of the management of Pure FM.
“I’m waiting to hear from my bosses on the line of action they are going to take but I will go and lodge an official complaint with the police, because a lot of journalists have lost their lives through such treats. So I am not sleeping over it”, Mr Baffour Awuah assured.
Story: Franklin Asare-Donkoh