Day one of President Akufo-Addo’s Greater Accra Regional tour on Sunday, October 25, 2020, took an interesting twist, as videos have emerged of a meeting at Kpone under the Katamanso Kpone District, which recorded high tempters and heated exchange of words.
It was reported that, some of the chiefs and elders in the area, hours before a sod cutting event, accused the President of misleading them by cutting sod for a project which has not seen any action, but the chiefs and elders are being accused of disrespecting the President and must apologise.
Nana Addo, in his latest trip to the place, went to cut sod for a supposed Municipal Hospital, but the Paramount Chief of Kpone, Nii Tetteh Otu I, has had enough of the sod cutting for projects which never see the light of day and angrily protested.
But, although the sod cutting was done, it was amid anger and hot exchange of words between the chief and his people on one hand and the President and his appointees on the other hand, and the two parties left the grounds unsatisfied.
Indeed, the two videos have since emerged showing both President Akufo-Addo and the Kpone chiefs, angrily throwing hands at each other.
A police officer was seen in one of the videos pleading with one of the chiefs believed to be Nii Tetteh Otu I, to resume his seat for the ceremony to continue.
Another elder was heard in one of the videos, insisting that he would not allow his chief to be disrespected. He was also seen being restrained by some other elders.
Additional claims are that the Kpone chiefs had asserted that the government had previously gone to the area and organized them to cut sod for the TOR-Mandela road over four months ago, yet not even clearing of the bush has started.
Other reports are that the chiefs had raised issues with the size of the hospital, saying a place like Kpone should not have been given a 4-room hospital in this day and age. The Chief, is reported to have bluntly retorted “we are tired of the lies”.
Before President Akufo-Addo took the podium to address the gathering, the Deputy Minister of Health, Bernard Okoh Boye, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ledzokuku in the Greater Accra Region, spoke first.
In a high tone, he declared “not everyone who says he loves you, truly loves you. NDC had been in power for 18 years, but Kpone hospital has not been delivered. It is our father (Akufo-Addo) who within four years, has cut sod to construct a hospital”.
Speaking in Ga, the Deputy Minister said “someone who helps you must also be helped, so I am begging you to hold on to Nana for him to help you and your families”.
In the second video which was posted on President Akufo-Addo’s official social media platform on Facebook, he was seen telling the chiefs and people that they have been voting for liars over the years in reference to the NDC.
“People come here to deceive you. Those who deceive you, are the ones you vote for; not me”, he told them pointing to the elders and chiefs some of whom really looked uncomfortable at the President’s gestures towards them.
But the President went on “Those who lie to you, are the ones you vote for. NPP, NPP has never gotten your votes before until now. We are not those who lie to you and you vote for them. Because before, someone lied to you, it means you have done something for him and he has turned around to lie to you. But you have never voted for me before. Same for my party. So if you want to talk about politicians who lie, you have to take out NPP politicians because they are not part of the liars. We are not part of it”.
He added that “everything we told you, we have delivered. With the Kpone hospital, we are cutting sod and within 24 months you’ll get a new hospital here in Kpone”.
“You did not want to come, but when you came, all the things you said troubled me greatly. The money for the hospital has been put together. Everything that needs to be done is ready. So when I come again in four years’ time, I will hear you say whether I came to lie to you or came to tell you the truth. So I came here to beg that whatever led to 7 elections in which the NPP has not been successful at Kpone Katamanso, this 8th election coming forth must be a change for the NPP. As I heard what the Chief Priest said, it appears to me the time has come for the number one to work in Kpone Katamanso”
Meanwhile, NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Kpone Katamanso, Hopeson Adorye, is said to be in a state of shock and disbelief at the altercation between the chiefs and President, and it is feared that the situation might damage his chances of annexing the seat from the NDC, which he has been extremely certain about.
But observers have taken issue with the President campaign style of going to areas asking the people to change their pattern of voting for the NDC by voting for the NPP and have their problems solved, while ignoring his hometown of Kyebi which has remained an NPP enclave for years.
Menhyia North and South, Oforikrom, Bantama, Tafo, Suame and several places, have since the 1990s remained NPP strongholds and their party’s lifeline.
The argument has been that Akufo-Addo, is restricting infrastructure developments to only areas that are voting for him.
Recently his rival in the 2020 election, John Dramani Mahama, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused him of developing Kyebi with asphalt roads through the Cocoa Roads scheme, despite stopping similar constructions in other parts of the country.
