Controversy and deepening anger have engulfed the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Akyem Oda in the Eastern Region following revelations surrounding circumstances that allegedly led to the tragic death of Maxwell Kofi Anti, a personal aide to the Member of Parliament for Akyem Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah.
The incident has triggered outrage among party supporters and grassroots members, many of whom are accusing party leadership at both the constituency and regional levels of negligence and failure to address long-standing complaints over alleged irregularities in the party’s internal electoral processes.
Maxwell Kofi Anti reportedly died on Saturday, May 16, after a vehicle carrying him and two other party members was involved in a fatal accident along the Oda–Oda Nkwanta stretch.
Sources within the constituency disclosed that the three individuals were travelling under urgent circumstances to deliver a letter of injunction intended to halt polling station executive elections at Oda Nkwanta amid escalating disputes over the conduct of the electoral process.
Kofi Anti is said to have sustained severe injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead shortly after he was rushed to a nearby health facility.
The two other occupants reportedly survived with varying degrees of injuries and are currently receiving treatment.
The tragic development has since exposed deep cracks within the constituency branch of the party, with allegations of manipulation, exclusion, and abuse of internal electoral procedures dominating discussions among party faithful.
In a viral video circulating on social media, a member of the three-member election committee for the Oda Nkwanta local elections, Mr. Emmanuel Antwi, openly accused former constituency chairman Bob Minta Debrah and former constituency assistant secretary Listowel Owusu Afriyie of masterminding efforts to manipulate the polling station executive elections.
According to him, the two individuals allegedly ignored objections raised by some members of the election committee and pushed ahead with the elections despite a directive from the Regional Steering Committee ordering a suspension of the process on the very day the elections were being conducted.
He claimed tensions at the election grounds escalated into chaos before police officers intervened to restore calm temporarily.
Mr. Antwi further alleged that even after news broke of Maxwell Kofi Anti’s death, one of the accused persons ( Listowel Owusu Afriyie) questioned whether the elections should be suspended merely because a party official had died.
The comment, he said, demonstrated what he described as a desperate determination by certain individuals to proceed with the elections regardless of the circumstances.
Recounting events leading to the fatal accident, Mr. Antwi described the deceased as a committed grassroots mobiliser who had dedicated his life to the NPP and did not deserve to die under such painful circumstances.
“This death could have been avoided if the leadership had handled the situation responsibly,” he lamented.
Mr. Antwi also raised serious concerns about alleged irregularities in the polling station registration and album compilation processes across parts of the constituency.
According to him, several longstanding and active NPP members were deliberately excluded from the polling station register despite paying party dues and participating actively in party activities over the years.
He alleged that although complaints and reports of irregularities were submitted to the Regional Steering Committee, no meaningful intervention was made to address the situation.
He further claimed that registration exercises in some polling stations were conducted selectively and without proper notification to party members, thereby disenfranchising many grassroots supporters.
According to him, mandatory polling station registration meetings were either not organised at all or were secretly held in certain electoral areas, denying many eligible party members the opportunity to participate in the exercise.
Mr. Antwi accused some constituency executives of taking over responsibilities that should ordinarily have been supervised by polling station executives, describing the process as a calculated political strategy aimed at controlling voter numbers ahead of internal party contests.
Central to his allegations are claims that some constituency executives and Electoral Area Coordinators manipulated the polling station album and registration process to sideline perceived political opponents ahead of the elections.
He argued that registration albums were improperly handled and distributed to selected individuals believed to be aligned with particular factions within the constituency.
One of the most serious allegations, according to Mr. Antwi, involves claims that some Electoral Area Coordinators signed sections of the registration albums reserved exclusively for Polling Station Chairmen, an action he argued undermines the credibility and authenticity of the registration process.
He identified the Srodai and Nkwanta Electoral Areas as among the centres of the controversy, noting that tensions in those areas had intensified weeks before the elections.
According to him, three polling station executives at the centre of the dispute were allegedly excluded from the registration album despite being longstanding members in good standing within the party.
“How do you exclude members in good standing from an album they were supposed to supervise in its compilation?” he questioned.
Mr. Antwi lamented that despite repeated appeals for intervention from both regional and national party leadership, no decisive action was taken until Maxwell Kofi Anti and the two others attempted to enforce a last-minute directive reportedly issued by the Eastern Regional Secretary, Tony Osei-Adjei, ordering a suspension of the elections.
He placed blame squarely on the shoulders of the regional leadership, insisting that Kofi Anti’s death could have been prevented if the Regional Steering Committee had acted promptly on the numerous petitions and complaints submitted regarding alleged irregularities in the registration and compilation of the polling station album.
The tragic death of Maxwell Kofi Anti has since sparked emotional reactions among party supporters in Akyem Oda, with many demanding a thorough investigation into both the fatal accident and the circumstances surrounding the disputed internal elections.
Party supporters say the incident has exposed growing divisions and mistrust within the constituency, warning that failure by the party leadership to address the concerns raised could further deepen apathy and internal discontent ahead of future political contests.
By 1960news.com
