Assin, Adansi chiefs threaten to boycott assembly elections

The chiefs and people of Assin Central as well as the Adansi South have threatened to boycott the upcoming district level elections if they do not receive positive response to calls to fix an abandoned electrification project and the deplorable road networks.

According to the chiefs, both past and present governments had failed to heed to numerous calls to have their road and electricity and other problems solved.

They said if these problems remained unsolved by next year, they would also boycott the 2016 general elections.

Nana Wadie II, chief of Assin Assaaman, who spoke at a press conference on Tuesday, said they had sent a petition to the President, the Central and Ashanti Regional ministers as well as the Ghana Highways Authority but were yet to receive any response.

He said the actions of the chiefs and the people in the Adansi South and Assin Municipality was not a deliberate attempt to make the government of the day unpopular but they were only demanding what was due them as citizens of Ghana.

The chief expressed disappointment about the state the area finds itself adding that it was pathetic for communities that produced gold, cocoa, timber and other resources that generated revenue for the country to live without electricity, potable water, hospital, police station and other social amenities that made life comfortable.

He said during raining season the roads from Assin Awisam through Assin Asamang within the Assin North and Nkranfo Nkwanta to Ataase Nkwanta of Adansi South District became unmotorable, making it difficult to transport cocoa and other food crops to the city for sale.

Nana Wadie said lack of electricity had not helped the pupils schooling in about 27 communities to learn I.C.T and they would have to compete with their colleagues in the big cities.

Nana Yaa Morkwaa, queen mother of Assin Nyardoam, said it was important to provide the area with social amenities to attract and retain teachers posted to the area.

She attributed the increasing number of teenage pregnancy and school drop out in the communities to the inadequacy of teachers and said “because the pupils don’t see teachers when they go to school, they engage in vices that are inimical to their progress.”

Elder Elvis Boateng, an aspiring assembly member of Assin Nyardoam electoral area, shared the same sentiments with the chief but appealed to the chiefs to reconsider their decision not to allow the people to vote during the DLE.