President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has refuted theorists who have suggested that his government had a political or ethnic agenda against the people of the Volta Region.
President Akufo-Addo said the deployment of the military personnel along the country’s borders was a nationwide exercise.
He described the commentaries that characterized the deployments as mischief generated by some elements of social media who were determined to stir up ethnic sentiments in the hope of reaping some political advantage.
Speaking at Keta, on Thursday, 27th August 2020, at a durbar held in his honour by the Awoamefia of the Anlo State, Togbui Sri III, the president noted that there were currently 1,000 military personnel deployed along the country’s borders of which 163 are deployed along the Volta Region border.
“This has been labelled a ‘military invasion of the Volta Region’. Volta Region is an integral part of the Republic of Ghana, and military deployments in a region cannot be described as an invasion”, he said.
The President noted that the easiest way to tell if people are being discriminated against by a government would be to look out for how the national cake is shared, adding that, on that score, his Government has been exceptional.
“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 stressed.
Additionally, the President indicated that there is 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,” President Akufo-Addo noted.
Recounting the history of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition, of which, currently, he is currently its flagbearer, the President told the gathering that, during the darkest days of Party, it was here in the Volta that it drew its biggest strength.
Many people, the President noted, forget that when J.B. Danquah, the first in the trinity of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition contested Kwame Nkrumah for the Presidency, on Ghana becoming a Republic in 1960, Danquah did not win in his home constituency in 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 makeup, which there is not, I would not choose the Volta Region as a target. History would not allow me,” he added.
“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,” he added.