Volta Regional Chiefs Disappointed In Govt’s Failure To Deliver On Its Promises (read more)

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) seems to be losing credibility in its stronghold, the Volta Region. Over the last couple of weeks, some chiefs and people in the region have expressed disappointment in government’s failure to deliver on its numerous promises, sending President Mahama racing to the region twice in less than a month in a bid to make amends. Latest to join the fray are the chiefs and people of Anlo who believe President Mahama and the NDC have failed to live up to expectation after they had been casting all their votes in the party’s favour. Concerns Awomefia of the Anlo State, Torgbui Sri III, last Saturday strongly pointed out to President Mahama and the NDC government that their claim of development was failing to solve the fundamental challenges in the country, particularly among the youth. Torgbui Sri made the assertion when he addressed the chiefs and people of the Anlo State at a durbar held in honour of President John Dramani Mahama at Anloga in the Keta municipality of the region. He expressed serious reservations about the fact that the NDC government had been able to reciprocate the huge support it enjoyed from the Volta Region, describing the situation as an investment which was not yielding returns. “The kind of support the NDC receives from Anlo land and for that matter the Volta Region is unalloyed and unparallel, hence the accolade reflected in the quantum: ‘The World Bank of the party’…,” he said. However, ‘as a bank’, he noted with emphasis, “We have to trade for good returns. We cannot continue doing business with clients who will not pay back the loans contracted with good interests.” That, according to him, was because “We do not seem to be receiving good dividends from the partnership we have with the NDC so far. To us, our share of the national cake is very much just not enough. This is our conviction.” Disappointment Although he admitted that there were some ongoing developmental projects, he insisted they were not reducing the high level of unemployment and poverty and that the masses were still experiencing serious hardships. He however appreciated the number of infrastructural facilities in the five municipalities and districts of Anlodukor (Anlo State), some of which he listed as school buildings (1st and 2nd cycles), health facilities/clinics, CHPs compounds, nurses’ quarters, water projects, sanitation, office complexes and roads among others. . Torgbui Sri stressed that “laudable as these efforts may seem, they fail to address a very crucial fundamental need of the teeming unemployed masses. They do not create the required sustainable job avenues for these people.” As a result, the Awomefia related that “The only alternative left to them is to resort to such anti-social habits as robbery, smoking and prostitution,” adding, “it’s high time this trend is stopped.” The chief requested for the construction of a harbour at Keta, dredging of the Avu-Keta Lagoon, investment in commercial farming, oil exploration in the Keta basin, Weta irrigation project and the Logote irrigation project. He also pleaded for the creation of Southern Volta Basin Development Authority, creation of Anlodukor Council and the construction of roads, among others. Mahama’s Response In a response, President Mahama promised that their requests would be given the needed attention. He then claimed that the NDC was responsible for all the massive projects that the region had seen since the inception of the Fourth Republic. According to him, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had nothing to show in terms of development in the region, despite being in power for eight years. He therefore urged the chiefs and people of the region to ignore claims that the NDC had neglected the region. Refuting the alleged claims of the NPP, the president insisted, “… That is absolutely untrue. Every progress that has been made in this region in terms of electrification, water, among others, has been made under an NDC government – from Jerry Rawlings’ time to Prof Mills’ time to my time.” President Mahama said, “For those who do that propaganda, in those eight years when they had the opportunity, what did they do? Show me. So we will not be distracted; we are doing a lot of work and we won’t stop doing it.”

Source: Daily Guide