A former Fomena Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has confirmed that he was given GH¢1 million by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, in a deal for the independent MP of the constituency, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, to join NPP MPs in the majority caucus.
According to Akwasi Nti Asamoah, the leadership of the NPP and the government through the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Wontumi), told him that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo needed him to step down as part of the conditions for the current 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Asiamah Amoako, to join the NPP in parliament.
Nti Asamoah said that he told Wontumi and another leading member of the NPP who accompanied him that he is willing to step down, but he is bridled in debt, for which he might be prosecuted if he is no longer the NPP chairman.
He added that he agreed with the two representatives of Akufo-Addo that he would be paid GH¢2 million, out of which he would use GH¢1.5 million to pay his debts if he decided to step down.
“Edward Boateng (former ambassador to China) and Wontumi said they would give me GH¢2 million to pay the GH¢1.5 million I owed the bank so that I would keep the remaining over GH¢400,000.
“I agreed, and they said I should give them five days to organise the money for me... but for over one month, I was not getting the money—that is the reason I have been fighting with Wontumi.
“The day before the vote for the speakership, Ken called me and asked me to meet him at Movenpick. I met him, and he told me that the president spoke about the agreement we had and that Wontumi was refusing to give me the money… He gave me a check for GH¢1 million to pay my debt to the bank because of my service to the party,” he narrated in Twi.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential hopeful, Ken Agyapong, while speaking to delegates of the NPP in Tema, said that it took his intervention and his GH¢1 million for the condition given by Asiamah Amoako, who is now the 2nd deputy speaker of parliament, to be met, which made him join the NPP in the House.
“If not for me, the NPP would not have a majority in parliament after the 2020 elections. Because after the election, NDC had 137 parliamentarians, NPP also had 137, and there was one independent candidate.
“We wanted the independent candidate to join us, and the condition he gave was that the NPP chairman for Adansi Fomena must resign before he joins us.
“I spoke to the Adansi Fomena NPP chairman, and he told me that he would have resigned, but a rural bank he owed GH¢1.5 million will take him to court if he is no longer the chairman of the party in the constituency,” he said in Twi.
Ken Agyapong added that he paid GH¢1 million of the debt of the Adansi Fomena NPP Chairman, which led him to resign for Asiamah Amoako to join NPP MPs to form the majority caucus.
Watch videos of the remarks made by Ken Agyapong and Nti Asamoah below:
