President John Mahama
The Volta Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. John Peter Amewu, has called on President John Dramani Mahama to render an unqualified apology to the people of the Volta Region.
His reason is that the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, during his recent visit to Anlo, deliberately threw dust into the eyes of the chiefs and people of the region, when he said the NPP did not bring any development to the region throughout its two terms in office.
According to Mr. Amewu, it was regrettable that the President visited the chiefs and people of Anlo and told them that all development projects in the Volta Region, since the inception of the Fourth Republic, were executed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and that the NPP did nothing to bring relief to the region.
The Regional Chairman continued that it was a shame for the President to play on the intelligence of the chiefs and people of the Volta Region by telling them the NPP was doing everything possible to discourage them from voting for the ruling party in the 2016 general elections.
Addressing the media in Ho to refute the President’s statements, Mr. Amewu stressed that truth and honesty were the hallmarks of every leader, but the President had decided to throw away these virtues in his desperate attempt to retain power in the forthcoming general elections.
But he was convinced the chiefs and people of the Volta Region were more intelligent to know as to whether the NDC government had really committed itself to the development of the region, or that the NPP rather helped in developing the region when it controlled the affairs of state.
Mr. Amewu noted that the President’s utterances during his recent visit to Anlo were a clear sign of dishonesty, with his description of the region as the “World Bank” and the “IMF” of the ruling party. The NPP Regional Chairman said used nothing but accolades to get the votes from the people, and afterwards neglect the region, in terms of development.
He pointed out that they should be regarded as total lies and a desperate appeal to the people in the Volta Region to vote for his party. The President tried to convince the chiefs and people of Anlo that the NDC youth complaining that the ruling party had done nothing for the region, were instead, known activists of the NPP.
“You see, we do not intend to call our President a liar, as his office should be respected as the highest office of the land. We wish to equally say that persons occupying such a high office ought to lead by example, by upholding their oaths of office to be truthful to Ghanaians in all their dealings,” he stressed.
Mr. Amewu noted that Ghanaians and the people of the Volta Region would never forget what he called the good works of the NPP, under the leadership of former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He mentioned that the road from Tema through Sogakope and Akatsi to Aflao, on which the President travelled to Anlo, was constructed by the NPP, not forgetting the Sogakope-Adidome-Ho-Fume road, Dzodze to Akanu road, Anloga town roads, Dzodze town roads, Abor-Anyako roads, Keta-Havedzi roads, the Keta sea defense project, as well as the resettlement project, all in the southern part of the Volta Region, among hundreds of development projects which were the footprints of the NPP government.
The NPP Regional Chairman stressed that the track record of the NPP, in terms of the number of development projects executed within its eight years of governance, could not be compared to the 29 years of the Provisional national Defence council (PNDC) and NDC era.
The PNDC and the NDC, he recalled, had totally neglected the people of the Volta Region even up to today, saying it was time for the President to rather apologise to the chiefs and people of Anlo and the Volta Region for neglecting them, instead of the deceit he had resorted to. He said it was during the NPP regime that educational infrastructure at Dakpa, Dzodze, St. Paul’s, Denu, Klikor Agbozume, Keta, Zion College and Anlo Senior High Schools were improved.
And these were not without the upgrading of the Wovenu Senior High School and the construction of the Weta Technical Secondary School, all in the southern part of the Volta Region. Touching further on development that the NPP brought to the region, Mr. Amewu said it was during the NPP regime that infrastructure at the Ho Polytechnic was improved, a reflection of its appreciable status today.
Mr. Amewu said the much-talked-about eastern corridor road by the ruling NDC, was started by the NPP from Kadjebi to Dodo-Pepesu, before it was voted out of office, adding that the NPP secured funds from the European Union (EU) for the continuation of the road to Krachi-Nkwanta. The effort of the current NDC government was the supervision for the completion of the road to Nkwanta; the same NPP government started the Abotoase-Wurawra-Dambai road, and almost 70 percent of work was done before the party left office in 2008.
The NPP Chairman stressed that main objective of the NPP was to bring development to the people, while he assured the people of the Volta Region that when voted back to power, the NPP would initiate many more social intervention programmes, apart from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), School Feeding Programme, Capitation, and Free Maternal Health Delivery among others, that the NPP brought to Ghanaians.
Mr. Amewu again assured the people that when voted, major development projects would be experienced, with emphasis on the construction of a harbour at Keta as one of its priority projects.
