New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Mr Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, must be thinking extremely lowly of the intelligence of the chiefs and people of the Volta region, when without showing remorse for all the numerous sins he and his henchmen in the NPP have committed against that region, he is looking for their votes to seal his victory in 2016.
Mr. Akufo-Addo, who has overtly and covertly, insulted and demeaned the people of the region for their continuous support for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) now admits the importance of votes from the Volta Region to his victory but is falling short of the humility and remorse needed to reach out to Voltarians.
The third-time presidential candidate prefers to hide behind falsehood to con Voltarians into accepting him and his party with the statement that, “We must make it clear to the chiefs and people of the Volta Region that all the stories about 'tribal this and that' are not true.”
The statement is contrary to several utterances of the NPP's hierarchy against the region and other regions considered as strongholds of the NDC.
Former Minister of Finance under the NPP administration, Mr. Osafo Marfo, was recently caught on tape questioning the capacity of the people of the region and other pro-NDC regions to rule the nation as against the Akan-speaking ones that, in his opinion, marshal all the resources of the country.
NPP Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Mr. Kennedy Agyepong, in one of his outbursts, asked Akans to attack and eliminate Ewes, who are the pre-dominant citizens of the region.
His name-sake and current embattled Secretary-General of the NPP, Mr Kwabena Agyapong, in the aftermath of one of the general elections in the country, asked if 'human beings existed in the region to garner the number of votes the NDC always got from them, impugning that Voltarians always stole elections for the party.
Akufo-Addo has not only been mute over these utterances but also tacitly supported them without expressing any remorse when questioned over them.
With his new move to win over the people of the region, his refusal to show remorse as he did with the 'all-die-be-die' statement for a long time, Voltarians should be wondering if he is not just doing it to get their votes to enhance his chances in 2016, especially when he had the best platform to do so at the time he met with parliamentary candidates of his party in the region.
The task ahead of him is huge in the light of the vigilance of the Voltarians who are questioning the genuineness of his move even though he is assuring that, “We must send a message to the people, and they must have it clearly in their minds that we do not have any negative agenda towards the Volta Region.”