Individuals aspiring to be metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) across the country have been advised by the acting Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, to disregard certain phone calls demanding money from them to make their bids successful.
The said phone calls, Mr Arhin said, were from scammers who claimed that the calls were from him (Arhin). According to him, since the commencement of the selection process for MMDCEs, some people have been calling aspiring candidates to demand money ranging from GH¢1,000 to GH¢3,000.
“Per information flow from the regions, the scammers have been calling aspirants from across the country using the MTN numbers 0241517704 and 0546405435, claiming to be Eugene Arhin, the Director of Communications at the Presidency.
“They tell them (aspirants) that the Herald newspaper had damning publications about them and if they did not pay the money demanded, the paper would publish the stories about them. Unfortunately, some people have made these payments to these scammers,” he said.
The communications boss at the Presidency noted that despite several circulars sent to the various regions for the aspirants to disregard those calls, some had fallen for the scam and
parted with money for those “faceless persons, in the hope of emerging as MMDCEs”.
The matter, he said, had been reported to the law enforcement agencies and many announcements made on radio to that effect.
Mr Arhin, therefore, urged the public and in particular aspirants for MMDCE positions to ignore those calls and report the matter to the police.
Serious lobby
Many people in the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) are reported to be lobbying seriously for appointment as MMDCEs, a situation that has led to tension in the party in certain parts of the country.
The acting General Secretary of the party, Mr John Boadu, has, meanwhile, stated that the government will not be bullied into appointing people to those positions without following dueprocess.
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