The Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr. Alfred Agbesi, has condemned the action of some supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who vandalised the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly and brutalized some members of staff last Tuesday. He has, therefore, apologised on behalf of the NDC to "those affected, especially the Municipal Co-ordinating Director and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), giving them the assurance of safety and appealed to them not to feel threatened to return to work. Mr Agbesi explained that the action was not by the NDC as a party but some aggrieved persons and some party members, among others. He also appealed to all aggrieved groups and the general public who felt strongly against the continuous stay in office of some officials to exercise restraint in dealing with them. Mr Agbesi was briefing the media at Ashaiman on the incidents, which took place at the Ashaiman Assembly, noting that he was away in Parliament when he had the information. He said his personal investigations revealed that the action was as a result of a letter purported to have been written by the Coordinating Director to the police, calling for the arrest of two executive members of the party. Mr Agbesi explained that a group of 300 people who were unhappy with the conduct of the MCE, the co-ordinating director and the municipal engineer in the handling of public toilets in the Ashaiman Municipality and other development projects, decided to attack them and demand that they vacated the offices. He said members of the group recounted many other grievances that included perceived inefficiency on the part of the engineer, massive corruption and arrogance on the part of some officials, which they claimed were committed by sympathisers of the New Patriotic Party. Mr Agbesi, however, dismissed the action of the said group, noting that the staff were public servants who were performing their legitimate official duties and, therefore, must not held for any misconduct of politicians. He disclosed that the President had indicated that he would handle issues cautiously and must, therefore, be given time to do so. He called on the aggrieved people to ensure peace and tranquility in the municipality. The MP said there was a lot of toilet politics going on and dismissed the 'takeovers' of the facilities as being personal property. He could not tell the whereabouts of monies being collected for the use of the toilets in Ashaiman because of the so-called takeover. Mr Agbesi said it must not be encouraged as the impression was being created that all the takeovers were being done by NDC members, but said the police was investigating to be sure of the people involved in those actions. He gave a background to the case, which indicated that the original operators of the toilets had sued two executive members of the NDC for taking over the toilets and, therefore, impeding them from rendering account to the municipal assembly. Mr. Agbesi confirmed that it was when they were returning from the courts that they drove to the Assembly to ask for the removal of the MCE and others. He said the supporters were aggrieved because in 2001 some of them were deprived of the operations of the toilets and, therefore, had the intention to retaliate. Mr. Agbesi alleged that as a result of the 2001 takeover when Ashaiman was under Tema, GH¢ 65,000 was written off as bad debt, because it could not be accounted for. He said this situation, if not halted, would resurrect, because the monies would go into individual pockets from the precedence set by the NPP in 2001. He, therefore, cautioned the NDC supporters to take it easy and not rush to create chaos in the country. Source: Daily Graphic