Volta4Change: Mahama threw dust in Volta chiefs' eyes

A pro-opposition group in the Volta region calling itself Volta4Change has said President John Mahama threw dust into the eyes of the chiefs of the area during his recent visit.

During his visit, Mr Mahama told the chiefs of the area that contrary to claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that his administration had abandoned the region, despite the place being the governing National Democratic Congress’ ‘World Bank’ and ‘IMF’, the current government had the region at heart. In his recent visit to Anlo Dukor, Mr Mahama wondered what the NPP did for the region in the eight-year term of the Kufuor administration for the party to be accusing his administration of neglecting the region.

According to the President, a lot of the development projects that have gone on in the region were done during tenures of the NDC.

In a statement, however, Volta4Chnage said: “It can only be concluded that President Mahama’s address to the Volta Regional House of Chiefs was a risible exercise in the dark arts of subterfuge, doublespeak and deception. And we believe that our chiefs and their subjects, to their credit, have not been fooled by Mahama’s silver-tongued talk,” the group said in a statement.

“In a roll call of ongoing and completed projects, he threw dust in the eyes of our chiefs and their subjects by claiming that the NDC had not neglected the region; insulting the intelligence of our leaders in the process. It was a shameful attempt to embellish a stained legacy ahead of this year’s elections.

“A solitary visit to our Mahama-forsaken region only serves to illustrate that the alleged completion of the projects undertaken under Mahama’s watch do not hide the hordes of unemployed youths, polluted water bodies, and paucity of efficient infrastructure that plague the region. His marquee project, the ongoing Eastern Corridor road, does not obscure the existence of miles of dirt-tracks that serve as many of the region’s arterial roads. Neither does it obscure the lack of river crossings over the Volta Region’s extensive bodies of water – a fact that hampers the region’s development,” the group said.

According to the group, the chiefs have lamented what they describe as the government’s failure to restart abandoned projects, rehabilitate bad roads and revitalise industry. “In an admonition of the government, Chief of Podoe-Dofor, Togbe Adela Titriku Anaze XII spoke for the general concerns of the chiefs when he claimed: ‘We, the chiefs, do not want to be seen talking too much, but again, we would like to remind the government that a promise to the people is a debt to the people’.”

During President Mahama’s visit, the group said: “An address by the Anlodukor, at the exclusive meeting, encapsulated the frustrations of the chiefs. Whilst acknowledging that certain projects have been completed, namely some school buildings, a handful of health facilities, a few water projects and office complexes, he was not blind to the scourge of high unemployment, poverty, environmental pollution, dilapidated roads, lack of clean water, and the collapse of commercial farming.

“The Anlodukor specifically listed the swathe of issues plaguing the region and contributing to its tardy growth and development, thus exposing Mahama’s words as mere claptrap that could also be best described as “deliberate misinformation”. The impudence of the president knows no bounds! A respected and notable chief from the Volta Region, the Anlodukor, a representative of the Anlo people, has in extensive detail delineated the specific areas of underdevelopment of his land and yet President Mahama has the barefaced cheek to stand before the Volta House of Chiefs and claim project after project as indicative of some sort of large scale general development of the region? This is not only an insult to the intelligence of the chiefs, but also us Voltarians. From the way President Mahama spoke, anyone who was not familiar with the hard truth would easily think that a revolutionary transformation of Singaporean proportions had taken place in the region.

“Fortunately, we, as well as our chiefs, know better because we live in the region and are eyewitnesses to the poor state of development in the region. The Anlodukor spoke of the need to dredge the Avu-Keta lagoon, which has had its fish stock decimated since the construction of the Akosombo Dam, and the moribund Weta and Logote irrigation projects that would have been a boon to farming in their respective locations. Concerning roads, he lamented the deplorable state of the roads that are the Havedzi-Metsrikasa, Shime, Akatsi-Xavi-Bayive, Akatsi-Dagbamate, Akatsi-Korve-Ave Dakpa and Havedzi-Denu amongst a plethora of others. His address also mentioned at least nine communities that were in want of drinking water, Akatsi and Kedzi amongst them. Most of the school projects initiated by the government had not even been completed. The Anlodukor also spoke of the increase in criminality that was gaining traction in his state, not only the hordes of unemployed youth that are a blight on the region, but from the nomadic Fulani herdsmen who have literally raped, pillaged, and plundered communities.

“This, in one address by the Anlodukor, is the state of the Volta Region today. For the Anlodukor has captured the Volta’s zeitgeist, 2016. Volta4Change implores our fellow Voltarians not to fall for such deception and bombast of promises by President Mahama. The true state of the region, as eloquently advanced by our chiefs’ carry far more weight than any NDC lies. The groundswell of support that we have traditionally given the NDC has been taken for granted for far too long. All we have been given in return are lies and underdevelopment. We owe our solidarity to our chiefs, our true representatives, not the John Mahama political machine. After all, our institutions existed long before the John Mahama and the NDC and will continue to exist long after their demise. John Dramani Mahama has taken the support of the good and loyal people of the Volta Region for granted. The status quo needs to be broken. Volta needs change.

“We will end with a quote from Togbi Sri III, Awoamefia of the Anlo state: ‘The kinds of support the NDC receives from Anlo land and for that matter, the Volta Region, is unalloyed and unparalleled, hence the accolade reflected in the quantum: The World Bank of the party. This is usually of votes that the Party receives from us during elections. As a bank, we have to trade for good returns. We cannot continue doing business with clients who will not pay back the loans contracted with good interests. We do not seem to be receiving good dividends from the partnership we have with the NDC so far. This is our conviction’.”