Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh
THE MUNICIPAL Chief Executive (MCE) of Ejisu/Juaben in the Ashanti Region, Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh has been allegedly slapped by a fuel station owner in the Ejisu Municipality.
With the matter fuelling controversy on the local airwaves, the MCE and his accuser are locked up in strings of accusations and counter-accusations over the originator of the brawl.
According to one version of the story, the NDC strongman, an ex-football administrator, allegedly manhandled a certain Sheikh, owner of a gas filling station, when the man stormed his office with a complaint over the locking up of his station.
The Sheikh, who returned a slap by the MCE, has been hospitalized following the brawl, as a young man who accompanied him to the MCE?s office is being held by the Police upon Yamoah Ponkoh?s orders.
Reacting to the rumours on Nhyira FM in Kumasi last Saturday, Yamoah Ponkoh flatly denied ever beating the said gas filling station owner in his office, saying the matter was being twisted by the media.
He said it was rather ?the said Sheikh who stormed my office at Ejisu in the company of another guy to beat me mercilessly and fled.?
The stoutly-built Yamoah Ponkoh said ?that man called Sheikh slapped me more than twice without provocation in my office. I was seated in my chair when he pounced on me.?
Yamoah Ponkoh claimed that ?Sheikh, after beating me in a bloody manner, was in a hurry to leave to escape arrest so he eventually ended up leaving his footwear behind in my office.?
He said the coordinating director of Ejisu/Juaben Municipality later reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of the guy who accompanied Sheikh to allegedly attack the MCE.
Narrating how it started, Yamoah Ponkoh recounted that he was in his office working as usual when Sheikh and another man visited to enquire from him why the man?s gas filling station had been locked up by the assembly, though he had a permit to operate it.
The MCE said he then asked Sheikh to produce his permit if indeed he had one, ?but what Sheikh could produce in my office then was a receipt and not an operating permit.?
Yamoah Ponkoh said he explained to Sheikh that his workplace was locked up because he did not have a permit to operate ?but he seemed not ready to understand my explanation?.
The MCE said at that juncture, he called his secretary to call officials of Town and Country Planning to come and explain to Sheikh what compelled the taskforce to lock up his workplace.
Yamoah Ponkoh claimed that he was firmly seated in his chair waiting for the Town and Country Planning staff to arrive when an angry Sheikh pounced on him, slapping him left and right.
The MCE said he did not retaliate, despite being slapped more than twice by Sheikh, adding that by the time the police were called to the scene, Sheikh had vanished, leaving his footwear behind.
Yamoah Ponkoh said he was shocked to learn that Sheikh had rushed to the police station to report that ?I had assaulted him when he visited my office for enquiries?.
The Ejisu/Juaben MCE confirmed that the police were investigating the matter, as the man who accompanied Sheikh was in police grip.
He said also that Sheikh was in hospital with an ailment which had nothing to do with the incident in his office.
Yamoah Ponkoh, in the course of the interview, flared up when the host of the programme asked him whether he had gone for medical forms and visited the hospital after he was assaulted by Sheikh.
The Ejisu/Juaben MCE retorted: ?You can?t ask me this question. This question is immaterial.?
He then descended heavily on the host, accusing him of trying to paint the picture that he, Yamoah Ponkoh, assaulted Sheikh though that was not the case.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
