Hohoe residents ‘snub’ walk for Mahama

An attempt by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to use a health walk to water down the embarrassment suffered in the past week about misrepresentation of the status of roads in Hohoe hit a snag.

The event was well patronized by supporters and sympathizers of the party in the region except Hohoe residents, the people whose sake the walk was organised.

The Health Walk dubbed ‘Walk for Mahama’ according to the Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC, Gyapong Cudjoe was organised to reinvigorate the party in the Hohoe constituency and also assess the allegiance of the youth for the party.

He said “People in Hohoe say a lot of things. They say that the youth in Hohoe are against us. I am happy to note that when I asked my lieutenants to organise a walk; today, here, the youth poured out in their numbers.”

However the Hohoe residents, particularly the youth were least enthused by the much publicized walk which attracted John Dumelo, the Ghanaian actor who has pledged his unalloyed support to the NDC party and President Mahama.

Many of the youth were seen going about their normal duties as a show of apathy against the governing party.

It appeared the organisers had the premonition that the residents would not turn up so they organised four Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses and two school buses of senior high schools in Logba and Leklebi to convey party supporters from both far and neighboring constituencies.

Participants were virtually drawn from outside Hohoe with some coming from as far as Ho which is about two and half hours’ drive, Kpando, Jasikan, Hohoe South among others.

Members of Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), student wing of the NDC in St Francis and St Theresa’s Colleges of Education also added up to the about 600 participants.

When the walk got to the Zongo area, the youth and other bystanders were openly making the ‘change’ gestures with their hands; connoting a change in government.

John Dumelo who was addressing the youth had to battle with chants of “our roads…our roads” in both English and Ewe.

A Presidential Staffer, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah pleaded with the people not to lose hope in the NDC and President John Mahama since they were the only party able to bring development to the region.

The event brought together government officials and party bigwigs such as the Chief of Staff; Julius Debrah, Minister of the Interior, Prosper Bani, Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and MP of the constituency; Dr. Bernice Adiku Heloo.

Others were Francis Ganyaglo, Deputy Regional Minister and the entire regional executives of the NDC as well as some MMDCEs.

Hohoe residents recently hooted at the Roads and Highways Minister, Inusah Fuseini for feeding the President with half truths about Hohoe roads as presented by the President in his State of the Nation Address.

The seemingly embarrassed Minister in an attempt to defend the inaccuracies presented assured that the roads will be done adding that the contractor will be invited for questioning. Residents were yet to get a feedback on the issue.

Interestingly the Roads and Highways Minister was nowhere to be found during the walk.