John-Peter Amewu's rallying call to Hohoe citizens at home and diaspora

Dear Fellow citizens of Gbi and the Hohoe Constituency both at home and in the ‘diaspora’, I come to our homes this evening with hearty greetings. I trust that in spite of the threats and fears imposed by Covid19 all of you are safe, strong and healthy.

As you are all aware, 2020 is an election year which presents yet another opportunity for us to elect our national leaders including a President and Members of Parliament (MPs). The Electoral Commission (EC) has since begun in earnest, all the processes including the compilation of a new voters’ register to make the 7th December, 2020 elections possible. The EC’s voters’ registration exercise is currently on-going across all parts of the country.

Fellow Gbi citizens and people of the Hohoe Constituency, you would recall that since 1992 we have been electing MPs to represent the Hohoe Constituency and for that matter Gbi in Parliament. But you will all also agree with me that none of these MPs have so far brought any meaningful development to our Constituency and in particular Hohoe or Gbi. For two consecutive times (2004 & 2008), I came appealing to you to give me the chance and the opportunity to represent and serve you in Parliament but to no avail. All the same, I believed and still do believe that the future holds the best for us all. The 7th of December, 2020 presents yet another opportunity and I am coming to you again but this time, as a Cabinet Minister and a top decision maker in the current ruling Government.

Our grandparents and parents might have told us tales about how Hohoe and for that matter, Gbi lost opportunities in the past due to wrong and misguided political choices. They told us, for example, how Hohoe painfully lost to Ho as the choice for the Volta Regional capital, and also how sadly and painfully Hohoe was placed and remained under the ‘hegemony’ of the Kpando District until 1979, and many other opportunities that eluded us as the people of Gbi therefrom.

Today, and once again, we are confronted with a similar landmark choice. Indeed, 7th December, 2020 will present us with two critical choices: either to move forward in leaps and bounds in terms of accelerated development or remain forever stagnant or at worse retrogress as Hohoe constituency and for that matter Gbi. I implore you to make a better and loftier choice; and that choice is me, your own son, John-Peter Amewu.

I am sure most of you are very much aware that even and long before I came seeking for your mandate this time round again, I have within the last three and half years either pushed for and/or initiated a number of visible development projects in and around Hohoe and the entire Constituency at large.

Talk of electrification projects which have seen electricity and street lights already extended and being extended to every nook and corner in and around Hohoe and for that matter the entire Constituency; in fact, on a massive scale unprecedented;

I have initiated a number of road projects including Hohoe town roads, Hohoe to Fodome road, the construction of Wli-Todzi road up the mountains among several others;

I have dug scores of boreholes in many suburbs and communities in the Constituency to provide potable water to hundreds if not thousands;

I have initiated and built the first ever mini-hydro power plant in Ghana on the Tsatsadu river at Alavanyo-Abenyenase which currently supplies constant power to that community, the next such mini-hydro plant will be built our own River Dayi in due course to supply constant power to the entire Hohoe constituency;

I have lobbied strongly and initiated monumental projects like the Hohoe Sports Stadium and the reconstruction of the Hohoe Central Market into a new and a modern market;

I pushed hard and lobbied my friends at GETFUND to initiate and complete in record time the construction of additional infrastructural facilities for the Hohoe E.P. SHS in aid of the Free SHS policy. The edifices at HEPSS are there for all to see.

I am delivering a modern and state-of-the art Police Station at Alavanyo Kpeme to the community sited strategically to provide security and partly address the age-old Alavanyo-Nkonya conflict;

Elsewhere within the Municipality and Constituency I have lobbied for several projects including CHIP compounds, mini-markets, classroom blocks, lockable stores, warehouse, boreholes etc under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP). All these are life-transforming visible physical projects that all can testify to.

In terms of non-visible projects, I dare say that so far I have secured employment/jobs for over 800 people from the Constituency majority from Gbi. Many of our youth through me have secured jobs in the Police, BNI, Immigration, Customs, the Military, YEA and in various agencies of the Ministries of Lands and Natural Resources and also the Ministry of Energy where I have served and continue to serve as a Minister;

Several others, through my efforts have secured jobs in the Local Government Service, the Civil Service, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture;

I have helped placed a number of prominent individuals from our Constituency including some of our traditional leaders on a number of statutory Boards to serve the nation in their various capacities;

I have secured various contracts being it construction or supply of items and/or services for several of our people from the constituency;

Our hardworking women traders and small business owners have not been left out. I did and continue to do my very best to help them access government financial facilities like the MASLOC and the COVID Business Support Fund etc.

I have facilitated the award of various scholarships and sponsorships for students and several travel opportunities for many within the constituency;

Mock exams and science practical training program for over 2000 2019-BECE candidates all over Hohoe constituency;

Training program and examination for electricians across Hohoe constituency;

Sponsoring the acquisition of motor riders’ license for over 500 “Okada” riders across Hohoe constituency;

NVTI accredited Training, examination and award of certificates to over 100 drivers and mechanics across Hohoe constituency;

Donation of over 10,000 pieces of canopies and Chairs to all electoral and traditional areas across Hohoe constituency;

As a matter of fact, many other opportunities for the people of the Constituency and for Gbi citizens in particular are in the pipeline even as I speak.

Indeed, all you my brothers and sisters, will bear me out that these achievements in the last three and half years have been simply unprecedented and phenomenal. I dare say that none of our previous MPs since 1992, have achieved even a quarter of these as listed above. I have done these and continue to do these because of my love for Gbi and my constituents at large even when I am not yet your MP.

Thus, you can verily imagine if you elected me to represent you proper in Parliament come December 7th, 2020. Indeed, being one of the trusted and dynamic Ministers in President Akufo-Addo’s Cabinet and for that matter the ruling government, one can only imagine the massive state resources that would be poured into the development of the Hohoe Constituency on account of my good self as your elected MP. Hohoe shall be transformed tremendously beyond our imagination. Trust me. Remember politics is all about the authoritative allocation of resources and Parliament is one place where state resources are allocated and distributed. That’s why you need someone of the caliber of John-Peter Amewu, a true and ardent son of Gbi and Hohoe, to be there for you.

Currently, my team of seasoned and respected Gbi and Hohoe intellectuals and very prominent individuals who have pledged to support my bid to Parliament this time round, irrespective of their individual political affiliations, are helping me to put together what I call a ‘Citizens’ Manifesto’ that would help me enter into a social contract with each community in the Constituency. Thus, as you pledge to give me your votes, I want you to put across to me needs you want me to meet, address or fulfill for your community when elected as your MP. I can assure you, with our collective efforts and with God’s guidance, these shall be done when I become your MP. It’s simply going to be what I call ‘ONE COMMUNITY ONE PROJECT’ across the entire constituency. So I task you now to start thinking about a problem-solving project in the community where you live so we can work at it collectively. Together We Can!

Beyond community development, I want to leave a permanent and indeed, a positive footprint on each and every single family in Gbi and Hohoe. Thus far, I have instructed my research team again to compile a comprehensive list of all the families that make up the Gbi state; from Gbi-Godenu through Hohoe to Three-Town (this data by itself is very critical for our future development as the people of Hohoe). My vision apart from community development projects, is to make sure that each and every single family in Hohoe benefits from one thing or the other from Hon. John Peter Amewu as your Member of Parliament; something or an intervention which is life-transforming, destiny-changing or something which can be a lasting game changer for the entire family. I do this with a very strong conviction and passion having listened to the scintillating testimony of our Honorable Volta Regional Minister Dr. Archibald Letsa. According to Dr. Letsa, one missionary gave a scholarship to his late poor but brainy father to have his secondary education in Mawuli School. He subsequently went on to study Medicine and then became a medical doctor. Through this singular act or intervention in one person’s life by a missionary, the Letsa family of Klefe today has produced additional nine (9) medical doctors in two generations making ten (10) medical doctors in all. What a feat!!! Who can beat them to it? This is what we call destiny-changing inter-generational investment. This is exactly what I want to do in Gbi and beyond as your MP.

For me and by this project, I will make sure at least one person from each family in Hohoe benefits either by way of educational opportunity, scholarships, sponsorships, exposure to or linkage to useful and profitable networks, travel opportunities, employment, business opportunities, government and private sector contracts, financial facilities etc. that should pull out and push at least one person up in each family who then can potentially be the agent of change. I call it simply ‘ONE FAMILY ONE OPPORTUNITY’. This for me, is how to develop people and communities. When individuals are developed and are well off, the entire community becomes wealthy and healthy. This is something I am sure, all of Hohoe will forever remember me for and I will make it happen God willing. This shall be replicated in other traditional areas within the Constituency. As I have said, this project is my brainchild and an inter-generational project which I intend to roll out and execute systematically and with utmost diligence over the next four years as your MP.

My fellow constituents, Gbi citizens, brothers and sisters, to make all these dreams elaborated above realizable, I need your unalloyed support in the form of your VOTES. To be able to give me your VOTES you will first need to REGISTER as an eligible voter in the HOHOE CONSTITUENCY to make this possible. You cannot vote for me if you do not travel back home from wherever you are to REGISTER in the HOHOE CONSTITUENCY. Already hundreds of citizens have agreed and have been mobilized to travel home to register during the first phase of the Registration exercise. The next phase starts in Hohoe next week.

Reminiscent of the biblical account of Joseph and Mary journeying from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register under the edict of Augustus Ceasar, as part of the birth story of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Luke 2:1-5, I implore all you and plead with you Hohoe citizens and other constituents in the diaspora to travel HOME with all your families and register at HOME against the D-Day the 7th of December 2020. In doing this however, please be minded that only persons who hail from the Hohoe constituency or residing therein are allowed by law to come and register in the Constituency.

This a call to duty; a call to sacrifice for the development of Hohoe Constituency and for that matter Gbi. Let’s secure the future not only for ourselves only but most importantly for our children and our children’s children.

PLEASE STAND UP TO BE COUNTED ON THIS OCCASION

Please for any logistical support that would facilitate your return travel to the Hohoe Constituency and back, please contact the following coordinators for advice and direction:

1.Wegbe: Victor kudzo Mawuena: 024 464 0355

2.Atabu: Dr Mark Aglobitse: 024 437 9223

3.Kpeme: Charles Kofi Nti: 026 075 9919

4.Bla: Walter Amewu: 020 114 0025

5.Hohoe: Charles Kofi Nti: 026 075 9919

6.Abansi: Jones Adjakwaku: 020 066 0464 and Mama Dzidoasi (Duo): 0249948456

7.kledzo: Charles Kofi Nti: 026 075 9919

I thank you very much and look forward to working closely with you.

May God richly bless you and bless our Homeland Ghana.

Thank you very much and Good Night

Hon. John-Peter Amewu,

Minister for Energy

(Aspiring Parliamentary Candidate for Hohoe Constituency)