President Nana Akufo-Addo has admitted that he made a mistake in his comment regarding the construction of a harbour in Cape Coast.
In a recent interview on Cape Coast-based Eagle FM, he denied that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had made any commitment to undertake the said infrastructural project in the region.
“Let me just confess it. I made a mistake,” he said on Accra-based Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on Thursday.
He added, “Presidents are human after all, we are not supermen. We make mistakes.”
During his tour of the Central Region on Monday, he insisted that “the commitment was never to a harbour; it was to a landing site.”
Justifying his statement, President Akufo-Addo referenced Page 88 of the NPP’s 2020 Manifesto, dubbed Leadership of Service: Protecting our Progress, Transforming Ghana for All.
Per the document, he outlined a few of the sites slated for the Central Region, which he said are at various stages of completion as far as Phase One is concerned.
However, the President clarified that the party actually pledged to put up a landing site as captured in the 2020 manifesto and earmarked for execution in 2022.
“I never said I was going to build a harbour in Cape Coast. I said I was going to build a landing site like what I’ve done in these six other places in the Central Region. Cape Coast will also have its landing site, and the construction of that will start next year.”
However, checks in the 2020 manifesto uncovered a paragraph that may be the basis of the region’s aspiration over a harbour that they believe would have improved the fortunes of the town’s coastal communities.
This attracted widespread condemnation especially among the Central Region residents who were hoping for a harbour to improve their lives.
Three days since the assertion, President Akufo-Addo has backtracked.
According to him, “in looking at the manifesto – and I try to do that before I go – I saw one page which talks about the landing site but I did don’t go any further.”
In the interview, he rendered an apology to the people of the region.
“I have to apologise to the people of Cape Coast and the Central region,” he added. Page 160 of the document highlights some infrastructure development to be expected when the NPP secures power in the general elections.
