By: David Kyei

Date: 02-08-11

A timely and tactical intervention by the Supporters Coordinator, George Amponsah-Duodu, has effectively ended the electoral impasse that was threatening to break and disunite the front of the Ashanti Regional Circles’ Council.

The contest for the Ashanti chair had heated up with Nana Bropete Baffour Asare and Benjamin Obeng running their respective campaigns until after the vetting of the contestants when the latter was disqualified from participation in the contest, thereby leading to the former going unopposed.

However, Benjamin Obeng, who has been disqualified from contesting in the elections on the grounds that he does not meet sections of the circles’ constitution has sought for and succeeded in securing a court injunction on the election that was to have taken place last Saturday.

The exercise at electing a new chairman therefore went out of the way and became an issue of intense media war where both sides traded allegations, counter allegations and insults.

To solve the problem and bring sanity into the circles’ front, George Amponsah-Duodu called a meeting between the two contestants in the presence of the national Circles’ vice chairman, Edmund Ackah, in Kumasi last Sunday to iron out the thorny issues.

Two contestants were impressed upon to look at their actions vis-à-vis the collective good of the club they support.

The meeting was aimed at getting the court injunction withdrawn whilst they looked at ways to make the elections confusion free. It therefore took a marathon turn with the parties initially taking entrenched positions.

Finally, they agreed to a power-sharing agreement.

The protagonist, Nana Bropete Baffour Asare, a.k.a Nana Gundis and Benjamin Obeng whose ambitions to become the new Regional Council Chairman of Ashanti Region were setting the council on an electoral confusion have finally agreed to merge their ambitions in the larger interest of Asante Kotoko.

Though the modalities for the power sharing agreement has not been spelt out yet, it was agreed that the two contestants signed an initial memoranda of understanding that would be presented as the basis for the withdrawal of the court injunction.

At the time of going to press, the parties had been given a few days to bring to the table their demands and concessions for consideration and action.