A Constituency Held Hostage”: NDC Executives in Awutu Senya East Demand Action Against MP and Her Husband’s Overreach

By Stephen Apolima
13th May, 2025

Kasoa, Central Region — What began as an internal disagreement over a local party appointment has now erupted into a full-blown crisis, as NDC Executives in Awutu Senya East took the bold step of confronting what they describe as “tyranny in the house of the NDC MP,” Hon. Phillis Naa Koryoo Okunor, and her husband, Mr. Yusif Terry Bance.

In a fiery press conference held earlier today, Constituency Executives delivered an unequivocal demand: Mr. Bance — who is allegedly operating under the guise of a national security operative — must stay out of party matters and stop running the constituency from his living room. The executives accuse him and his wife, the sitting MP, of singlehandedly hijacking party structures and rendering elected officers redundant.

“Decisions are being taken between husband and wife at the dining table and imposed on the entire constituency like royal decrees,” one senior executive fumed during the address. “This is not how the NDC was built. This is not how the NDC should function.”

The executives decried a disturbing pattern in which appointments, disciplinary actions, and party engagements are handled not through the established structures, but at the whims of the MP and her husband — whose involvement they described as “unconstitutional, uninvited, and destructive.”

A Party Under Siege

The crisis reached boiling point after reports emerged that thugs allegedly linked to the MP and her husband stormed the premises of Pink FM in Kasoa, attempting to stop Deputy Communication Officer Kobby Wilson from granting interviews. His “offence”? Daring to challenge an unlawful bypassing of his appointment as PRO for the District NADMO Office — a position that had been rightly handed to him after his superior was moved to GPHA.

“When you can’t speak up in your own party without being assaulted or silenced by hired thugs, then democracy in that constituency is dead,” said another aggrieved member.

While suspects have been arrested and are assisting with police investigations, party insiders say the real perpetrators — the MP and her husband — remain untouched, protected by their proximity to power.

Failure of Regional Leadership

Adding fuel to the fire is the incompetence of the NDC’s Central Regional Chairman, whose inability to manage the crisis has deepened internal divisions. Rather than serving as a neutral problem-solver, he has been accused of turning a blind eye to the abuse of power and emboldening the MP’s actions.

“He has not only failed to mediate — he has quietly enabled the dysfunction,” a regional insider revealed. “This kind of regional leadership is how we lose constituencies.”

A Warning to National Leadership

The executives warned that if immediate action is not taken, the party risks undoing the massive groundwork laid ahead of the 2024 elections — work that was largely credited to the tireless efforts of Constituency Chairman Stephen Ofosu Agyare, whose leadership helped restore credibility and momentum for the NDC in Awutu Senya East.

“Chairman Ofosu Agyare made the NDC attractive again in Kasoa. People who had lost hope in the party began to believe again,” an executive emphasized. “But today, we are watching that progress being torn down by one MP and her husband, unchecked.”

The crisis, if left unresolved, will not only divide the constituency beyond repair — it will have ripple effects across the country in the run-up to the 2028 elections. The message being sent to foot soldiers and grassroots organizers is clear: loyalty and service can be overridden by nepotism and brute force.

National Executive Committee Must Step In — Now

With party unity under siege, the Awutu Senya East Constituency is calling directly on:

• H.E. John Dramani Mahama, Flagbearer and former President
• Johnson Asiedu Nketia, National Chairman
• The entire National Executive Committee (NEC)

to intervene decisively.

“This is not just a Kasoa problem. It’s a national problem. If you fail to act, don’t be surprised when Awutu Senya East slips through our fingers in 2028,” warned one visibly emotional youth organizer.

A Test of the NDC’s Values

This is more than a political scuffle. It is a direct test of whether the NDC will uphold the structures that have sustained it since its founding — or allow impunity, intimidation, and personal empire-building to tear it apart from within.

The grassroots have raised the alarm. Will the national leadership answer — or will it remain silent while one of the NDC’s most critical constituencies is consumed by chaos?