Brong Ahafo chiefs want Akufo-Addo to choose running mate from region
Three traditional rulers in Brong-Ahafo at the weekend called on Nana Addo-Danquah Akufo-Addo, of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to consider the choice of the presidential running mate from the region.
The chiefs said the choice of a candidate from Brong-Ahafo would not only inspire the youth in the region to aim higher in life but would also deepen and strengthen the Danquah-Busia tradition upon which the NPP was formed.
Barima Mintah Afari II and Nana Opoku Ababio, Chiefs of Chiraa and Fiapre respectively, in Sunyani West District, as well as Nana Asante Boateng IV, Apagyahene of Fiapre, made the call in separate interviews with the Ghana News Agency.
They emphasized that Brong-Ahafo had produced a number of intellectuals who had excelled both in their private lives and national development but expressed regret that “since 1972 that Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia became Ghana’s Prime Minister no citizen from the region has been in the Executive arm of government”.
The chiefs attested that both the current and former Members of Parliament from the region as well as those appointed to ministerial positions performed creditably to the expectation of Ghanaians.
Though the constitution bars chiefs from active politics, the choice of a running mate from the region will also be in appreciation of the contributions of personalities in the region to the party’s development, Barima Afari, who is Benkumhene of Dormaa Traditional Council, said.
He said traditional rulers were ever ready and prepared to continue to work with any political party that Ghanaians would give the mandate to in December.
“Though I exercise my franchise as a civic responsibility I am not an activist of any political party”, the chief said, adding “my choice of NPP’s running mate from the region is to portray that we also have quality human resource base needed for development”.
Nana Afari appealed to political parties to conduct their campaigns in a decorous manner to sustain the country’s prevailing peace before and after the general election.
On the incidence of bushfires, which is almost an annual ritual in the region, the chief advised farmers, palm wine tappers and hunters to be cautious about the way they handled naked fires.
With the onset of the harmattan, the probability of bushfire outbreaks in the region is very high and I would appeal for all citizens in the region to help eliminate the canker, Barima Afari added.
Nana Opoku Ababio expressed concern about indiscipline, alcoholism, drug peddling and abuse among the youth and called on the police to beef up security in communities.
Nana Boateng advised parents to take keen interest in the education of their children and provide them with basic learning and teaching materials to sustain their interest in education.
He said quality education was the best and the only legacy that they could bequeath to their children.
Source: GNA