The embattled incumbent Ashanti Regional Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwame Zu, is lacing his boots to grab the Deputy General Secretary slot of the party.
A post on his Facebook page, Wednesday, inferred he was moving on from his current duty post as the Regional Secretary for Ashanti region to National Deputy Secretary.
The post reads: “We know the road will be muddy and rough, but we’ll get there. I will soon commence my regional engagements before the Constituency elections towards our resolve to serve as a Deputy General Secretary of our beloved Party. See you soon.”
In an interview on Kumasi-based Orange FM, this week, Mr. Zu said his next move is to pick nomination forms in pursuance of his decision.
COMMITTEE WANTS MR ZU BARRED
His determination to pursue the high post to become one of NDC’s chief scribes at the national level rather calls the bluff of a recommendation that he should be barred from party activities.
A Fact-Finding Committee set up by the Ashanti Regional Council of Elders unravelled what actually happened before, during and after the 2020 general elections in the region.
The Dr Samuel Sarpong-chaired committee was also tasked with coming up with recommendations, which could be implemented to improve the NDC election results in the Ashanti Region.
The Chronicle is in possession of the committee’s report, which has the executive summary, findings and recommendations. Though the detailed report has the names of all the committee members, it has not been signed. But the paper has no reason to doubt the credibility of its source.
The committee made 17 recommendations and the last one was that the Ashanti Regional Secretary, Kwame Zu, should be barred from all party activities.
It stated that: “The Regional Secretary abandoned his position soon after the elections, which amounted to betrayal of the party.
“This action by the Regional Secretary reinforces the public perception that he compromised his position. It is, therefore, recommended that he should be barred from all party activities.”
WHAT WITNESSES TOLD COMMITTEE
Aside from the document with the executive summary, findings and recommendations, the Spear of the Nation, The Chronicle, also has in its possession another document, detailing what witnesses told the fact-finding committee. In all, 18 witnesses appeared before the committee, including Kwame Zu.
The tenth witness, according to the document, was George Abofra, the Regional Elections Director. He allegedly told the committee that “on December 6, 2020, whilst the directorate was setting up for the elections, Kwame Zu told the Elections Director that his work ended that day, 6th December. He had set up a collation center in a room at the Regional Secretariat.
“This had never happened before. I informed some members of the Elections Directorate about what Kwame Zu had told me. Some got angry and left…”
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS
Mr. Sylvanus Soga, also known as Sly, told the committee that the election directorate got a lot of backlash after the elections, adding that he was “prepared to present our part of what happened” to the committee.
According to him, his election directorate was “completely disorganized for election 2020. The Regional Secretary, Kwame Zu, completely captured our leader, Mr. Abofra. The Regional Secretary effectively set us aside and pushed us to the periphery of the elections. We could not play the way we knew we had to.”
Other witnesses made some damning allegations against the Regional Secretary, Kwame Zu, to the committee.
In sum, accusing fingers were pointed at him for helping the defeat of the NDC in the Ashanti Region.
The Committee was informed by various witnesses about how the actions of Kwame Zu portrayed wrongdoing, except to say he may have compromised his duties.
Most witnesses cited issues before, during, and after the elections, claims which persuaded the committee to conclude that his actions reinforced the public perception that he compromised his position, and went ahead to recommend that he be barred from all party activities.
KWAME ZU TAKES THE STAGE
After the committee had welcomed Kwame Zu to the hearing, he thanked the committee for the opportunity, adding that he should have run to them.
According to Kwame Zu, “there was a mixture of bitterness, sadness, disappointment are very heavy on me. So, it is better late than never. I might explain why, at a point, I had not too much confidence in the composition of the committee.”
He is captured further in the report to have said that the elections directorate runs through the national, regional, constituency and branch.
Some witnesses alleged that a background check revealed most of the party agents were connected to the New Patriotic Party. Also, on the day of the polls, most of the agents abandoned their posts.
Explaining how he got involved in the recruitment of polling agents, Kwame Zu narrated how a letter came late in November 2020, in which Mr. Griffiths, in charge of IT, needed to recruit agents and contacted him, adding that each constituency was to recruit IT personnel to be responsible for transmitting election results.
When asked if there were polling agents at all stations, Mr. Zu answered in the opposite and retorted that until he met the committee, he did not know and said it was “extremely ridiculous, if not absurd. Agents were assigned to recruit personnel…”
The committee asked if he dismissed Mr. Abofra as had been alleged, but Kwame Zu denied, claiming it was “very weird and blatantly strange that he [Abofra] claims I sacked him.”
