Upper West:Your Visit is The Most Idle, NDC Tells President Nana Akufo Addo.

 

The Upper West Communication Bureau of the National Democratic Congress has lashed out the president of the republic, His Excellency, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo for what it describes his unproductive visit to the Upper West Region.

In a statement released and signed by the Regional Communication Officer, Prosper Puo-ire, it questions the motive behind visiting only constituencies the NPP won  in the last parliamentary elections. The NDC considers this as a mark of vindictiveness, divisive, sagregative and uncomproming towards dissenting opinion.

The statement also catalogued a number of developmental predicaments, ranging from abandoned infrastructural projects, bad roads, education, health related problems to the closure of the Wa airport. 

Below is the full statement. 

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS

UPPER WEST REGIONAL  COMMUNICATION SECRETARIAT

13th July, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

RE: PRESIDENT AKUFO ADDO TOURS THE UPPER WEST REGION

The NDC in the Upper West Region has taken note of the safe arrival of President Akufo Addo at the Wa Airport, though initial reports of bad weather delayed the landing of the President for about three hours.

We are appropriately informed by his widely circulated itinerary that, the Presidents visit is to enable him under take a two day official working tour of the region.

While we join the revered Chiefs and warm people of the Upper West Region to welcome the President to our land, we are not at all astonished that, this visit is the most idle visit the Upper West has ever received of a sitting President since its creation in 1983. It is our candid opinion  that, this rather unproductive  visit of President Akufo Addo is to enable him take cover  from the public outrage and wrath pouring out at his office , over a litany of corrupt issues, moral decadence and reckless actions cum utterances. We wish to assure President Akufo Addo that, the Upper West Region cannot be a safe haven for him to take cover from his ineptitude and the mismanagement of the Highest Office of the land. For when the wood insect gathers wood, on its head it must carry it.

We have particularly taken keen note that, with the exception of the Wa Municipality which the President cannot willingly avoid because it houses the airport, the President has shamelessly chosen to visit only constituencies that the NPP won the 2020 Parliamentary elections. Thus, Sissala East, Lambussie and Nandom Constituencies. Though this appears so lowering of a President who taunts himself as one who is an ardent disciple of modern democracy, we are nonetheless surprised because, this re-enforces the widely acclaimed assertion that, President Akufo Addo is vindictive, segregative and uncompromising towards dissenting opinions. We humbly admonish the President to eschew his petty partisan prejudices and be much more opened to every Ghanaian and more importantly, live within the tenets of the Office of the President, as father for all.

We have monitored the Presidents engagement so far and we are so appalled at his delusion as far as his governments poor performance in the Upper West Region is concerned. His pretense of complete ignorance of some abandoned government projects and the conspicuous infrastructure deficit in the region is most nauseating and actually smacks of a President who is busy snoring on his job. It is particularly a pity that, the President had the impudence to bemoan his partys poor showing in the region during the 2020 general election, albeit some key patriarchs of his party hailing from the region.

Since his Excellency the President feigns ignorance to the development challenges of a region that his regime has consciously blacklisted, we wish to seize this opportunity to remind the President of the following;

1)  That the 160 bed ultra-modern  Upper West Regional hospital which was built by the erstwhile John Mahama / NDC regime still remains in its pale shadow, as his government has failed to resource the facility with the requisite seed capital that it is entitled to. We humbly implore him to respect the equal entitlement that we have to the largesse of the state, by immediately releasing funds to have the hospital function appropriately.

2) That the SDD-UBIDS (another NDC/ John Mahama  legacy) is suffocating from lack of funding and his governments refusal to complete the massive infrastructural investment started by His Excellency  President John Dramani Mahama. The University needs special attention.

3) That the Dr. Hilla Limann Technical University equally needs special infrastructural intervention to get it to its feet.

4) That the asphalt project started by HE John Dramani Mahama has been stopped by his government and the plant at Kaleo has now become breeding grounds for reptiles.

5) That the Zini, Dorimon, Wellembele, Konzokala, Naro and Boo community Snr High Schools that were being built by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama and abandoned by his government are still at same stage he met them. Painfully, his government has not added a single block or layer of mortar to any of them.

6) That his government has closed down the Wa Airport to commercial air traffic since the advent of covid 19. This insensitivity is having a negative impact on the people in the Region.

7) That his government has halted almost all road construction projects that were ongoing in the region. Prominent among them is the Wa- Hian- Tumu Navrongo road. We are sure that, it is for this reckless decision that, he couldnt go to Tumu by road but had to employ the services of a helicopter. Other abandoned road projects include the Hamile- Fielmuo- Gwollu road, the Wa- Dorimon road. The Tumu-Wellembele road, Lawra- Eremon- Domwine road, Nandon  Lambussie road, among others.

8) That the Dikpe bridge in the Lawra Municipality which he personally cut sod for its construction, amidst pump and pageantry, lies in ruins and only remains a relic of his numerous unfulfilled promises.

9) That, the acute shortage of fertilizer and the resultant price hikes of the essential commodity is unprecedented and will certainly impact negatively on food security in the region.

10) That all Senior High Schools in the region have become a pale shadow of their glorious past. The situation of no funding for these schools is bad to the extent that, some schools cannot afford three square meals for the students now.

The NDC is quite certain that, the souls of Chief SD Dombo, Jatoe Kaleo, Mumuni Dimbie, BK Adama, Naa Abeifaa Karbo and the likes must be turning in anguish in their graves for this level of neglect and insensitivity President Akufo Addo has exhibited towards their kinsmen and motherland. We urge President Akufo Addo to redeem his sinking image by sincerely showing remorse, and with a contrite heart, seek forgiveness from the Chiefs and people of the Upper West Region, for his governments deliberate policy of blacklisting the region from development.

While we wish him well as he frolics around, we wish to humbly remind him of his own Imposition of Restrictions Act 2020 which he personally signed into law. While we all acknowledge that, opulence has been the hall mark of his regime, we humbly appeal to the President to be circumspect with his usual profligacy in this region that he has abandoned.

Thank you.

Signed

Puo-Ire Prosper

      RCO

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