Constituency Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Eastern Region have shut down all the party’s offices in the region to demand the release of their colleagues on remand.

The five Mpraeso constituency executives including the chairman and secretary were remanded into police custody by the Mpraeso Magistrate Court yesterday after they were alleged to have attacked the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kwahu South, Joseph Omari and stole his property.

At a press briefing, spokesperson for the 32 constituency executives, Johnson Amoh insists that the regional minister and top party officials must facilitate the release of the five executives.

The executives have resolved that “the Mpraeso constituency Chairman are to be released immediately from police custody. All the party offices in various constituencies in the region should be closed down with immediate effect”.

The executives are also demanding that Joseph Omari be removed from office accusing him of being the cause of the troubles, insisting that the party cannot “sacrifice him against the masses”.

They have also called on the Regional Minister to come clean on the issue suspecting that he was conniving with the DCE in the arrest of their colleagues.

The executives criticised the regional minister for continuously failing to deal with the many concerns they have raised concerning the poor conduct of some DCEs in the region.

 Johnson Amoh called on the police to be fair in discharging their lawful duties because “it is quite clear that they have twisted the arms of justice concerning the Mpreaso Constituency Executives of the NDC”.

However, Mark Oliver Kevor, the NDC’s Eastern Regional Secretary is urging restraint.

He assured that the needed legal support is being provided to assist the beleagured executives.

“It is unfortunate that we have to get to this stage. We sympathise with them, we have acknowledged their concerns and I’m asking them to exercise restraint while we work towards a peaceful solution to this impasse”.

He said there have been several petitions against the DCE [Joseph Omari] and the appropriate measures are being taken.