Onua Maakye host, Captain Smart says the Obuasi Municipal Chief Executive, Elijah Adansi-Bonah, has confirmed to him that he ordered his bodyguard to stop the morning show team from carrying out the show Thursday morning.
The Maakye team were supposed to have a three-day running show in the Obuasi municipality as part of its Peoples’ Assembly following the recent trapping of some illegal miners in the Anglogold Ashanti Mine shaft.
The Peoples’ Assembly, an offshoot programme of the Onua morning show, Maakye, gives people the opportunity to present their challenges before authorities where immediate response is provided.
With reports of encounter between illegal miners and workers of Anglogold Ashanti Mine, the team stormed the place to ascertain from the people what the driving force could be. But after the first day, the well built (macho) young man who massacred the technical equipment said the NPP executives who attended the programme the previous day were booed when speaking, the reason they wouldn’t allow the show to continue on Thursday.
But speaking with Isaac Ansah Apagya back at Onua TV studios in Accra, host of the show, Captain Smart said he called the MCE himself when the machoman said he wouldn’t allow the programme to take off.
“…So I asked him that you wouldn’t allow the show to go on in your capacity as who? He said he has been sent by an authority and I asked him, who sent you and he said the MCE. Then I called the MCE myself and his explanation was that, where we organised the programme is a parking lot for the assembly and they charge people for parking there so we were supposed to pay some money to the assembly. Then I said but I was with you on Tuesday night for almost two hours when we arrived. We were told they were going to bring a receipt for us to pay because we also have to render account to our bosses when we return so we needed the receipt but they did not bring it,” Captain Smart narrated.
Meanwhile, he denied an allegation made earlier on the show by a youth organiser of the NPP on the show, one Bright Nyampong who said the team did not seek permission from the assembly before hosting the event there.
He clarified that, “it is not correct that we didn’t seek permission. I spoke to the caretaker of the place, he is called Muniru, on phone and he told us to give him time to discuss with the assembly to do their calculations to know whether to reduce or increase the rate for us and we never heard from him again.”
Captain Smart further assured all residents of Obuasi to remain amid the already growing tension in the area.
“All tempers at Obuasi should calm down because there is already tension here. The youth say they don’t need any violence anymore but if you come and don’t give them the needed development, they will show you the way out,” he indicated.
