Akufo Addo Not In Ashanti Because Of Party Tensions - Hamid

Mustapha Hamid ( Information Minister )

Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, has rubbished suggestions that President Nana Akufo-Addo’s three-day tour of the Ashanti Region is connected to recent troubles within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in that part of the country.

Mr. Hamid maintained that, the President’s trip to the NPP stronghold in the wake of recent tensions was merely coincidental.

Addressing a news conference on Friday, Mr. Hamid explained that “this is an institutionalized arrangement where every month he will visit a region. We cannot envisage what trouble will come next month, when we are going to the next region, but if by accident, something happens and he is there, it is purely accidental.”

“It has nothing to do with this matter otherwise it wouldn’t be institutionalized. It would just be to go to the Ashanti Region and wait till there is trouble in another region, but that is not the case. Every month, once he is in Ghana, he will make sure he’s in a region to interact with people.”

Recent tensions

A vigilante group with NPP affiliations, the Delta Force, stormed the premises of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, demanding the removal of the Regional Security Coordinator, George Adjei last Friday.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, was subsequently summoned to the Flagstaff House to explain circumstances under which the Delta Force raided the Regional Coordinating Council, vandalised property and assaulted George Adjei.

The group has since apologised to the President for the incident and pledged its support Regional Security Coordinator.

Mr. Hamid further revealed that, President Akufo-Addo will visit the central market “to be able to experience what the cost of living is for the citizens of our country.”

He added that, the President will also have an encounter with the media as “meeting with the media is important for furthering our democratic governance arrangement.”

The President will also visit the abandoned Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Maternity block.