The silence of President Akufo-Addo days after tidal waves began ravaging the coastal town of Keta in the Volta Region has not come as a surprise to us.
In fact, we will have been rather surprised, nay, shocked, to hear and see him comment on it simply because he has shown over the years he dislikes the region and its people and therefore cares less about them.
Why else will the region’s roads be excluded from the 2018 budget when those of all other regions were included? Why else will he deploy soldiers and thugs parading as members of various security agencies in the region to molest, intimidate and harass the people during the registration exercise in 2020?
Of course, to solicit for much needed votes, he has hoodwinked some Ghanaians into thinking he has no hatred for Voltarians by visiting the Volta Region on a couple of occasions and making flowery statements to deceive the populace he has the region at heart.
Is it not an irony that in Guinea, the Head of state, a soldier, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who lays no claim to being a human rights activist is rallying Guineans to take a stand against tribalism and unite while here in Ghana, Akufo-Addo who was hailed from rooftops as a human rights lawyer has since he became President deepened the crack of tribalism among Ghanaians and sowed seeds of tribal hatred and bigotry among the populace?
During an unexpected visit he made on Friday, November 5, 2021, to two public universities in Conakry, Mamady Doumbouya told the students to cultivate excellence and merit by eschewing ethnicity which has plagued Guinea.
“You can’t change the world in two days, but you have to lay the foundations. Everything we do today, if we’re going to die, is for you. It’s clear. Everything we do and everything we will do is for you. But you have to take your responsibilities so that as students you come up with solutions to our problems. The only thing you need is commitment, love for your neighbor, love for your brother who is nearby. I would like you to end the ethnic groupings in our country because you know where it gotten us” he told the students of Gamal Abdel Nasser University and General Lansana Conté University, respectively. In these two temples of knowledge, he tasked the students to work together to build the Guinea of tomorrow.
Here in Ghana, we have a President who does not preach unity. Instead, he deepens the ethnic cracks by showing bias against Voltarians. That is why he is quick to comment on a natural disaster in another country, sympathizing with its victims but cannot bring himself to comment on a natural disaster in the Volta Region.
In April 2019, he tweeted about the fire in Paris, France that gutted down the Notre dame cathedral. He wrote; “The Ghanaian people and I are shocked by the news of the destruction of the great Parisian Cathedral, Notre Dame, one of the most iconic buildings of world civilization and extend our heartfelt condolences to President @EmmanuelMacron and to the French people on their great loss”
Has anybody seen him tweet or comment anywhere about the tidal waves in Keta, sympathizing with the victims? He can’t be bothered!