A pro-Mahama group in the National Democratic Congress, the Social Democratic Forum of NDC, has accused the Chiefs of the Volta region of deliberately trying to paint President Mahama black, with their constant “wailing and lamenting, complaining of ‘neglect’ and ‘underdevelopment’,”

Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of Asogli and President of Volta Region House of Chiefs, last week, during a meeting with the Regional Executive and some members of the Regional Election Taskforce of the NDC, described the NDC’s tag of the region as its ‘world bank’ as derogatory.

He accused the party of taking the region for granted and showing gross disrespect to the chiefs and the people when it comes to issues of development.

But the Social Democratic Forum of NDC, in a release signed by its spokespersons, Manan Mustapha and Alhassan Issahaku, say it is disgraceful for Volta Chiefs to continuously complain of being left behind in terms of development when the NDC has done enough for the region.

“For some reason, these chiefs seem to think that they are due a disproportionate amount of the national cake. Well it is time that these traditional rulers, and their subjects, learned a truth that they may find unpalatable; that the days of the NDC bestowing special favours to Voltarians are over. No longer can the NDC be a party run by Voltarians for Voltarians. It must be a party by ALL Ghanaians for ALL Ghanaians,” the group said in the statement.

The group says the chiefs of Volta region are treating President Mahama with scorn because he is from the North and not from the Volta region.

“It appears that despite all the achievements HE. President John Mahama has racked up, nothing is ever good enough – if it’s not one thing it’s another; and it is always the Voltarians that are at the heart of these complaints. Within the party they have taken on the role of fifth columnists, willing to sabotage the party at every opportunity in order to satisfy their narrow ethnocentric self-interests,” it stated.

The pro-Mahama group holds the view that the Volta Chiefs have been bitter since former President Rawlings exited office.

The group even wants former President Rawlings, “who even failed to endorse President Mahama during the party’s recent campaign launch in Cape Coast” to exit the party “since his current disposition cast a lot of doubts on his loyalty to the NDC party.”

The group also chastized some NDC executives in the region who failed to appear at Cape Coast to give their support to President Mahama.

“The treacherous element in our party has also extended itself to some Volta Regional Executive, which decided to boycott the national campaign launch in the Volta Region. This treacherous 11 in their press release justified their stance with a list of specious, spurious claims, which were not supported with any hard evidence. It is not even apparent from their statement what their grievances actually are, as their statement was couched in generic terms without getting into specifics.

“It can only be concluded that their intention was to entrench their own self-interested factionalism. Their claims and demands leads one to believe that they are only interested in keeping the Volta Region as a region of ‘special interest’, one in which Voltarians may only have a stake in. This is childish and petty. It is suggested to the Treacherous 11 they either put up or shut up. They are not greater than the party and do not deserve to be indulged. It is a message that all the other internal enemies of progress would do well to heed,” the statement from the group concluded.