Sam George criticises Akufo-Addo over comments on infrastructure in Ashanti Region

The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Nartey Samuel George, has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was not truthful to Ghanaians when he claimed he did not see any infrastructural development when he toured the Ashanti Region over the weekend.

President Akufo-Addo had said during his tour of the Region that his government will commit GH¢500 million to facelift roads in the region.

According to him, the “unprecedented infrastructural development” as preached by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was a façade.

“So where is this unprecedented infrastructural development that was touted by my predecessor? The roads in Ghana’s second biggest city, Kumasi, are nothing to write home about, even though much of the country’s revenues and resources come from the Ashanti Region,” the president said at the Akwasidae celebrations over the weekend.

“I was left with a bankrupt economy, but with hard work and discipline, we have been able to find money. So, this year, GH¢500 million has been devoted to the roads in [the] Ashanti [Region]. This comprehensive plan for roads, that is the Kumasi Roads Facelift Project, has already been approved by Cabinet, and will result in the facelift of Kumasi roads, as well as the development of roads in Ashanti,” he added.

‘Loose talk’

But reacting to the President’s comments, Ningo-Prampram MP cautioned the president to be mindful: “He is the president and not in a palm wine bar discussion”.

Sam George said there is enough evidence to show that the NDC was committed to infrastructural development in the Ashanti Region and that the president was merely doing what he described as “loose talk”.

“It is loose talk. Haven’t you been to Kumasi, in the past five years? Did we not see under [former] president Mahama and the road facelift of the Asawase constituency, in the Manhyia area, Manhyia North, Manhyia South. The president is not saying the truth if he says he didn’t see anything in the Ashanti Region.

“From Tech junction to Asafo interchange, when was the Asafo interchange constructed? Under which government was it constructed? We completed the Phase I of the Kumasi Central Market, which is the biggest market in the whole of West Africa,” Mr. George said on Onua FM‘s Yen Nsempa on Monday.

Asantehene’s honour of Mahama

He argued that the evidence is so clear in the Ashanti Region that the Ashantehene organized a party in honour of John Dramani Mahama for the massive infrastructural work he did in the Region.

He quizzed if the President would have been able to arrive at the Kumasi Airport at 7:00 PM if the NDC did not rehabilitate it and extend its working hours, which used to be 5:30 PM.

He again wondered why some of the Ashanti Region projects brought before Parliament are in their second phases if the NDC did not do anything.

“Why has his government brought to Parliament before we rose the Kumasi Central Market Phase II? Who did the Phase I?” he quizzed.

He further dismissed claims by the President that GH¢500 million had been allocated for the rehabilitation of roads in the Region.

‘We’ll hang the dog’

According to Sam George, who is also a member of the Public Account Committee of Parliament, nothing of that sort has come to parliament.

“Parliament has not approved any GH¢500 million for Ashanti road and there was nothing of that sort in the mid-year budget review. The annual budget for the Ministry of Roads is not up to me a billion for the country.”

According to Sam George, Akufo-Addo ought to behave like a president with his commentary about the previous administration.

“You see the President, when we talk then he says he is a dog and we can’t hang this dog but when the president continues to behave like a dog and bark we will hang him. The president must know he is the president and not in a palm wine bar discussion, he is the president of the republic.”