The youth wing of the Volta Regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dared President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to demonstrate how genuine its quest to split the region is and how it could be successful.

In a press statement signed by its regional youth organiser, Egypt Kobla Kudoto and copied to the DAILY HERITAGE in Ho, the wing condemned the back-stabbing attitude of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), adding that their posture was a clear manifestation of the government’s double standard.

The youth claimed that the decision to carve Oti Region out of the Volta Region without providing a definite date makes the action of the government makes the government’s acclaimed commitment to the decentralization process suspicious.

It stated further that the decision of President Akufo-Addo to ignore the Volta Region in the creation of new assemblies was a sad day for the people of the region, especially the youth, who had great expectations when the NPP administration gave the signal of its intention to create new assemblies.

“It would be recalled that the government recently created additional 38 new Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies bringing the number to 254 from the previous 216 but Volta was left out. At the time all other regions were in jubilant mood following the birth of the new assemblies, the story in the Volta Region was one of wailing, crying and gnashing of teeth.

The statement added that the deliberate decision by the government not to give even a single new assembly to Volta Region was an unfortunate development that could not be glossed over.

Deputy Regional Minister hit back

But the Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Maxwell Kofi Blagodzie, however hit back at the NDC youth wing, saying “they would be in a deceitful era for long” and urged young men who find themselves in politics to do their best to refrain from misleading their followers.

“Government is not imposing the creation of Oti Region in the Northern part of Volta on the people. It was a legitimate request that has been long-standing in the eras of successive governments, including the two NDC administrations.”

Mr Blagodzie saw those youths, chiefs and agitators from the south against the process as brothers and sister and expected them to identify with the process rather than sabotaging it to satisfy their interest.

On the suggestion of naming the yet-to-be-created region as Northen Volta, the Deputy Volta Regional Minister said it could only be welcomed if everything points to genuine intentions such as all the stakeholders joining the government in its quest for the new region, which is meant for accelerated development.

He urged the people not to see the government’s intention as a partisan move but wholeheartedly embrace it and see it as a development agenda.