President Nana Akufo-Addo, has said that he is not bothered by calls from the stronghold of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to be voted out of office in the 2024 election, saying such threats do not frighten him.
The President’s comment on Kumasi-based OTEC FM on Monday, October 17, was in response to a question posed by host of the programme regarding the threats made by the people of Kwabre against the NPP in the 2024 election, due to poor road infrastructure in the area.
Afigya Kwabre East Constituency is one of the voting powerhouses of the ruling NPP. The Constituency contributed over 80,000 votes to the NPP in the 2020 presidential election.
Interestingly, in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, on Monday, President Akufo-Addo, was booed by market women when he inspecting the Phase II of the Kejetia/Central Market Project.
On their way to the Kumasi Central Market, the president’s convoy was met by scores of traders at Adum in the central business district, who had displayed their wares for sale.
Directly responding to the specific question about the threats by Kwabre residents, President Akufo-Addo, appeared on OTEC FM in Kumasi on the second day of his four-day visit to the region, Mr Akufo-Addo retorted: “No problem,” adding: “I’m saying people make those kinds of threats; me, they don’t frighten me.”
“Somebody votes for you, somebody supports you because they want you to do things for them. I understand that. There’s no need for people to threaten that: ‘If I don’t do this, then that and that’,” the president noted.
Asked if he will fix the road nonetheless, Mr Akufo-Addo answered: “Of course, I’ll do it but if it comes to voting and you decide to vote for the NDC, it is your own matter, it is not my business.”
According to him, although he understands the masses may support a party with an expectation, he, however, does not see the need to threaten the government if it fails to deliver.
“If you decide to vote for the NDC in the general election, it is your choice and that is not my problem. No one will force you to vote for someone,” he stated.
He, however, admitted that he has been mandated with a responsibility to construct roads and will definitely execute it.
With respected to the Phase II of the Kejetia/Central Market Project, on seeing the vehicles conveying the president and government officials, the group of market women, hawkers and artisans wasted no time in voicing their displeasure with the prevailing economic situation.
In a video which has gone viral, the traders and passersby are seen in the chorus of boos as the convoy advanced.
Multimedia’s online platform; MyJoyonline writes that “in good times, the stronghold of the ruling New Patriotic Party would be most welcoming of the President, with residents waving their approval, with some offering their cloths for a carpet for him to walk on.
The economic downturn and its attendant increasing hardships appear to have eroded all of that love.
This is the second time the President has been booed in public. During the Global Citizens Festival, the youth who gathered at the concert jeered at him.
Social media users joined the discussion on whether or not booing President Akufo-Addo is was justified.
In the case of the residents of Afigya Kwabre East in the Ashanti Region are angry at the Akufo-Addo government and their Member of Parliament, Francisca Oteng-Mensah, over deplorable roads in the Constituency.
They claimed that the poor road network within the area is affecting their daily activities including their livelihoods.
Mampongteng, the capital of the municipality, has no single kilometer of road tarred after detaching itself from the Sekyere district, 35 years ago.
In an interview on Joy Prime, some drivers bemoaned the exorbitant cost they incur daily as a result of the deplorable nature of the roads.
“Now, ₵100 can’t even buy anything at Suame Magazine, everything is expensive. We use our daily sales on petrol without taking anything home.”
The drivers also complained that weekly maintenance and servicing of their vehicles at the fitting shop is taking a chunk of their daily sales.
“Every week, we go to the fitting shop for maintenance of our vehicles and always buy spare parts. It is as if we are not part of Ghana. The roads are bad when it rains.”
Food vendors are not spared from the impact of the deplorable roads as well.
“It’s worst when its harmattan, the dust is really affecting us. We have to always cover our food with nets and the dust turns them brown within some minutes.
We always have to help the school children cross the roads when it rains. So government should come to our aid.”
The Local Traditional Council of Mamponteng has called on the government to ensure the contractor returns to the project they abandoned in October 2019.
“Mamponteng is the only municipal capital in the country without a single kilometer of tarred road. Since it was out of the Sekyere district 35 years ago, we are greatly disappointed.
“And it is important to communicate the fact that a sod cutting event in October 2019 by His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo for the commencement of a 5.5 kilometer tarred road project for Mampongten was immediately abandoned by the contractor after the fun fair and the excitement that greeted that ceremony.”
According to the spokesperson, the deserted project has claimed lives of many residents.
“The sad part of this short lived project…….left abandoned by the contractor has been posing danger to the town folks, claiming victims especially, women and children. There are numerous victims, some with serious impairment, currently at the hospitals.
With a lady victim at the theatre and emergency unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.”
He stressed that “we certainly cannot be enthused about this development.”
A spokesperson for a group called Asante Youth, who is also the Unit Committee Chairman of the Antoa Electoral Area, Mr Akwasi Amaning, told Emmanuel Quarshie, the host of Accra100.5FM’s morning show, Ghana Yensom, on Tuesday, 18 October 2022, that the president’s reaction to their concern is unfortunate.
He explained that the chiefs feel insulted by the president’s reaction to their plea, adding as people who played a role in ensuring the NPP secured its second term in government, they will advise themselves going forward.
He said this should not have come from the president, adding that the president is an elderly man who should have known better.
