Dr. Richard Baah Amoako, a political scientist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has slammed President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for some comments he made about Ekumfi constituency.
The President had said he refocused development in the constituency because the constituents voted out the parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
But the former head of the Political Science department at the KNUST says the President ought to know utterances that should be made public and those that shouldn’t.
He explains that giving their MP a ministerial appointment was merely an elevation of a single individual which had no bearing on the constituency until efforts were adopted to develop the entire constituency.
According to Dr. Baah Amoako, “like many things he’s said in the past, it’s not in good taste. You don’t say that when you become President of the country. You’re the President of the whole country.
“You made the MP Deputy Minister, and what did you do after that? Just making him Deputy Minister is not called a credit, especially if he doesn’t do anything else to accompany his elevation. That makes it even worse because the expectation has gotten up and you haven’t gotten around to doing it yet.
“They have to see some things on the ground to believe what you’re saying. But if you don’t do it, elevating him alone is not enough, they’ll vote against you and that’s what happened and you shouldn’t come and tell us this. This is something that you think about but you don’t say it because it’s not good to say that. You’re the President of the whole country, not just those who vote for your party or for you.
“If you say you’re trying to be honest,…this is not something you say in honesty. It has nothing yo do with honesty because it’s not a good thing to start with so if you are honest and tell us a bad thing is it supposed to be good, no!,
Background
The President had admitted that he looked away from the development challenges of Ekumfi because the constituents voted against the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Francis Kingsley Ato Cudjoe.
According to the President, during his first term when Mr. Cudjoe was the Member of Parliament for Ekumfi, he made him a deputy minister and a substantive minister in order to channel some development projects to the constituency.
However, following Mr. Ato Cudjoe’s defeat in the 2020 elections, he (the President) ignored the needs of the constituency.
“I made Ato Cudjoe (an indigene of Ekumfi) a minister and a deputy minister so he could do something there for you. But unfortunately he lost his seat in the next election and it’s all part of the reasons I also ignored you for a while, I must be honest with the truth. But I’ve heard you and the year has just started so by the time the year ends, I’ll see what I can do,” President Akufo-Addo assured.
The President’s admission followed a demand from the Kyedomhemaa of Ekumfi traditional area, Nana Enyimfua III, for the state to put up a project in the area to help the youth to make a living.
The queen mother, during a visit to the Presidency to thank Mr. Akufo-Addo for renovating the Asomdwe Park –the burial grounds of late President Mills –said the state is yet to honour any of the promises it made to the family of late Prof. Mills and the community since the demise of their kinsman.
She pleaded with the President to fulfill at least one of the promises made to the traditional area, so that the future generation can also count on it as what they benefited for the service their son rendered to the state.
“I am ashamed when I even tell people that I’m Attah Mills’ queen mother. This is because people always ask why we did not make the government do anything for us at Ekumfi, if I’m from that family. It is also shameful, because we were promised of something at Otuam, and the family secured a land for it, but nothing was done.
“Whenever we pour libation, we mention your (Akufo-Addo) name not to forget the promise you gave us the time you visited Ekumfi and told us he was a friend you played football with,” the queen mother reminded the President.
President Akufo-Addo assured the family that he will honour his promise, but admitted he redirected his attention from Ekumfi because they voted out the NPP MP.
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