The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the Volta Region was not singled out for any special military operation in the run-up to the voter registration exercise, and there was certainly no political or ethnic agenda.
According to President Akufo-Addo, even though deployment of the military personnel along the country’s borders was a nationwide exercise, and was done across all our borders and not in the Volta Region alone, for which the Minister for Defence and other ministers gave detailed and clear explanations, this appears not to have satisfied certain people.
This, he said, was “because of the mischief that is so easily generated by some elements of social media, and also because of the season we are in, and the determination of some people to stir up ethnic sentiments in the hope of reaping some political advantage”.
Speaking at Keta on Thursday 27 August 2020, at a durbar held in his honour by the Awoamefia of the Anlo State, Togbui Sri III, President Akufo-Addo said that there are 1,000 military personnel deployed along the country’s borders, of whom 163 are deployed along the Volta Region’s border.
“This has been labelled a ‘military invasion of the Volta Region’. Togbewo, Mamawo, Volta Region is an integral part of the Republic of Ghana, and military deployments in a region cannot be described as an invasion.
“Some elements of social media went into a frenzy, mostly with old videos taken in Accra and other parts of the world being passed off as residents of the Volta Region being brutalised by soldiers,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Examine local share of cake
He continued, “This has been escalated into accusations of ethnic cleansing, and the government that I lead has been labelled as tribalist. Whilst social media is a useful tool for information-sharing, it can also be, and has been, used to magnify small incidents, place pictures, videos and voices out of context, or simply generate outright fabrications, in order to stir up needless ethnic animosity among citizens who are otherwise living peacefully with one another.”
The president argues that the easiest way to tell if a government is discriminating against certain people is to examine how the national cake is being shared. He argued that, judged by this measure, his government has been exceptional, as it has spread development projects equitably across all parts of the country.
“I dare say this area [Anloga] has done quite well under this government. After years of demanding, an Anloga District has been created, and a new assembly complex is being constructed.
“There are numerous GETFund projects scattered all over Anloga, and Keta SHS’s is one which I am due to commission today. Important to me are two TVET projects in the Anloga District alone, one of which I shall be inspecting at Atorkor,” he said.
The president also noted the Keta landing beach project, construction of which commences in September, the €85 million facility for the Keta Water Supply rehabilitation and expansion project, and the Keta Harbour project.
“We have not completed our development journey, but surely we are on the right path, and no one can accuse this government of discrimination in the distribution of the national cake,” the president said.
Greatest strength
Recounting the history of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition, for which he is currently flagbearer, the president told the gathering that, in the darkest days of the tradition, it was from Volta that the party had drawn its biggest strength.
“It was here in this region that people were most passionate about the political tradition. It was from here that the first people had to flee into political exile after independence, and it was in this region that many chiefs had to flee into political exile, and some died there.
“Some of the consequences for the chieftaincy scene in the region have still not been properly resolved. It was from this region that people were sent into internal exile,” he said.
The president noted that many people forget that when Joseph Boakye Danquah, the first figure in the trinity of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition, stood against Kwame Nkrumah for the presidency as Ghana became a republic in 1960, Danquah did not win in his own home constituency, Akyem Abuakwa.
“But he won in two constituencies. One is right here, in Anlo, and the other is Ho West. Even if there was a little, brittle tribal bone within my make-up, which there is not, I would not choose the Volta Region as a target. History would not allow me,” he declared.
Reiterating his commitment to the Ghana project, he urged all residents of the Volta Region to be guided by the knowledge that the enemy confronting the Ghanaian people is bad governance and poverty, and that is what he is spending his energy trying to defeat.
“It is a battle we can only win if we stick together and pull in the same direction, even if we have different perspectives.
“I am convinced we are set on the correct course, and I ask for your support to let us continue in peace with the transformation of Ghana.
“I assure you that I will do whatever it takes to ensure that the 7 December elections are free, fair, peaceful and transparent, so that the will of the Ghanaian people is made manifest,” he said.
Click here to listen to President Akufo-Addo speaking in the Volta Region.
Wilberforce Asare / Asaase Radio
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