President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described the “unprecedented infrastructure development” mantra by the John Mahama administration as a propaganda which was aimed at luring the people to renew the mandate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“When I questioned former President Mahama’s unprecedented infrastructure development slogan during the 2016 electioneering, he told me plainly that I sleep when I travel on the road and can thus not see the development he was talking about”, he stated at a meeting with members of the Ahafo Council of Chiefs as part of his visit to the Brong Ahafo Region at Goaso last Saturday.
Explaining his comment, which attracted laughter, Nana Akufo-Addo said since his assumption of power, bad roads had stared him in the face wherever he had visited throughout the country and wondered why such a propaganda was touted by the previous administration.
His comment was in response to a request by the President of the Ahafo Council of Chiefs and Omanhene of the Yamfo Traditional Area, Nana Ansah Adu-Baah, who complained about the numerous deplorable roads in all six Ahafo districts in his welcome address.
President Akufo-Addo explained that his government was currently preparing to award a number of roads on contract to enhance easy movement throughout the country.
He announced that nearly GH¢100 million was on procurement for the upgrading of the Akrodie-Asawinso Road while spot improvements were currently being done to ensure that roads in the area were passable.
President Akufo-Addo said other road projects in the area were part of the District Development Programme which would also ensure the construction and rehabilitation of bridges by the Ministry of Roads and Highways.
He also gave an assurance that the Sankore Road and roads of some major towns in the Ahafo area would be rehabilitated in due course and called on the people to trust the government to fulfil its campaign promises.
Creation of new region
Touching on the current processes towards the creation of new regions, President Akufo-Addo said the creation of new regions was not a new phenomenon since the country’s regions had increased from three to 10 since independence.
He explained that the creation of new regions was geared towards better governance and he would, therefore, support the crave for new regions.
He added, however, that the current constitutional provisions for the creation of new regions had very strict limitation and urged those who really wanted new regions to be prepared to fulfil such constitutional demands.
Nana Adu-Baah
For his part, Nana Adu-Baah thanked President Akufo-Addo for his untiring efforts to bring development to the doorstep of the people.
Asunafo South political clashes
Addressing a durbar to inaugurate the Asunafo South District Directorate Health at Kukuom, PresidentAkufo-Addo took a swipe at the violence perpetrated by some members of the NDC and New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the area.
He stated that the situation was an unacceptable method adopted by the perpetrators to win the mandate of the people and described such acts as “old fashioned”.
The President also cut the sod for the construction of an office complex for the Asunafo South District Assembly at Kukuom as part of his visit to the area.