The Gbese Youth in Greater Accra have stated that there is no basis for calls on the Gbese Mantse to step down since the National Democratic Congress (NDC) won in the jurisdiction of the chief.
The Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi Bonte II, had said at a public gathering before the December 7 polls that he would step down if the John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) party lost the general elections.
But the chairman of Gbese Youth, Nii Annan Agbo, who addressed a press conference on Friday, December 23, argued that the comments by the chief had been misunderstood.
According to him, the Gbese Mantse’s promise was that he would only renounce his stool should the NDC lose within his jurisdiction.
He added that since the governing party did not lose in Odododiodioo constituency, he cannot be compelled to abdicate his stool.
“He (Nii Ayi Bonte II) enumerated other developmental projects seen under the government and went on to mention in particular, the laudable efforts of the Hon. Member of Parliament (MP), Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, and the mayor of Accra, Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, in bringing those developments. He pledged his support for the MP and mayor. He asked the Chief of Staff to inform the president to keep them as ministers of development. He pledged that if Nii Lantey Vanderpuye and the mayor of Accra, Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, are beaten in the parliamentary election, he would step down. They have won, so what is Nii Ayi Bonte’s crime?”
The youth group’s defence of the Gbese Mantse follows calls by the purported spokesperson of the Gbese kingmakers, Nuumo Okai Keteku, who told the media at a press conference Wednesday that they had given Nii Ayi Bonte II a week’s ultimatum to abdicate.
