We find Mr Blay’s effusions to be most distasteful, disrespectful – Volta MP Caucus

The Volta MP Caucus in Parliament today, Friday, April 30, 2021 has jointly release a Press statement on a statement made by the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party.

Mr Freddie Blay is reported to have made a statement on why the People of Volta Region had the least ministerial appointment in the Akufo-Addo led NPP government.

According to Mr Freddie Blay, ”Volta Region had the least ministerial appointment because the region gave NPP only one Parliamentary seat in the 2020 General Elections.

Kindly read the full statement issued out by the Volta MP Caucus

We observe with disappointment some comments by Mr. Freddie Blay, the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party who sought to provide justification, albeit offensive, to the president’s refusal to appoint more

ministers and deputy ministers from the Volta Region.

Condescendingly however, his comments were made in Ho the Volta Regional capital where he spoke to the media after meeting his party executives on Tuesday 29th April 2021.

In his attempt to rationalize the President’s exclusionist agenda, the NPP chairman was unambiguous in stating that the president deliberately chose to reward the region based on the number of MPs she has produced out of the just ended polls.

He emphasized, “You could see that Volta Region has only one ministerial position and that one went to the only MP from the region…it is a pity…”.

How low can Mr. Blay descend with partisan propaganda? 

We find Mr. Blay’s effusions to be most distasteful, irresponsible, disrespectful and unnationalistic to say the least. It is our considered view that an elderly politician of Mr. Blay’s stature should know better that Ghana is a unitary state with a constitution that places a sacred responsibility on its leaders to be fair in the selection of individuals they assemble to serve as ministers and deputy ministers at any given time.

Appointing ministers purely based on the number of votes, or MPs a party gets from a particular region is not only backward but also an affront to our democracy and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

This explanation by Freddie Blay is the lowest we have gotten since the birth of the 4th republic. 

Mr. Blay and his NPP must wake up to the reality that the constitution of Ghana requires that the President is guided by an important principle of ‘Regional Balance’ in his appointments. A situation where not any ordinary member of the New Patriotic Party is heard celebrating this unfortunate development, but the National Chairman of that party is most retrogressive.

We are aware of Mr. Blay’s supercilious and disrespectful dispositions towards the chiefs and people of the Volta Region even though he is on record to have said that his wife is a native of the Volta region from Taviefe.

We are however surprised that he has elevated this intolerable conduct to the level of the Presidency with his latest outburst relative to the President’s appointments of only one Minister and a Deputy Minister from the Volta Region.

We call on the President, HE Akufo Addo to call Mr. Fredie Blay to order while providing a more equitable explanation through his official spokespersons if he so desires. But to allow their party chairman to continue insulting the people of the Volta Region only muddies the waters.

The Volta Region has been at the receiving end of some NPP politicians particularly in recent times.

Pre-election intimidations and military invasion of the Region are still fresh on our minds.

If the President and his party have chosen to punish the Volta Region using state powers, they should state it clearly and not through a discredited surrogate like Freddie Blay. 

This latest justification could also be a message to the sons and daughters of the Volta Region who are members of the NPP to wake up and return home since all their efforts in the NPP can only be treated with contempt and derision as stated succinctly by their National Chairman.

We are by this release calling on the President of the Republic to do the needful by reining in Freddie Blay.

We also draw the attention of all well-meaning citizens of this Republic, the national house of chiefs, civil society organizations, political parties and religious leaders to this destructive trend so they can also speak out against these acts that have only one aim; sow seeds of disunity and segregation.

Our silence as a people when wrong things are being perpetrated against a segment of the population makes all of us accomplices.

Long Live Ghana!

Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah (MP, Ho West)

Chairman, Volta MPs Caucus