The Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah has lashed out at Nana Akufo-Addo for failing to rein in five New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament who tried to use the courts to scuttle the Atuabo Free Port.
He said the flagbearer of the NPP should have thought it wise to render an unqualified apology to the Chiefs and people of the Western Region before promising to turn the region into Oil service Hub.
“The NPP flag bearer cannot allow his Members of Parliament to take Atuabo Gas Project to court which when completed will provide jobs for the people in the Western Region, then turn round to promise to do the same thing government was seeking to do, Nana Addo should rather apologize to Ghanaians.”
Five NPP Members of Parliament mainly from the region had unsuccessfully challenged the legality of the establishment of the Atuabo Free Port. The MPs appealed against The Sekondi High Court dismissed the case saying it has no jurisdiction to set aside any part of the Commercial Agreement approved by Parliament that was legally arrived at and in line with the standing orders of Parliament. The MPs appealed against the ruling in the Cape Coast Appeals Court but was struck out.
The MPs were Kweku Kwarteng, Obuasi West; Hawa Koomson, Awutu Senya East; Joseph Cudjoe, Effia constituency; Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Takoradi; and Kofi Brako, Tema Central.
It is against this backdrop that Dr. Omane Boamah responding to Akufo-Addo’s latest promise of making the Western Region a hub for Oil Services, told Bright Kwesi Asempa, host of Onua Fm morning show that if it was not because of the suit brought by the five NPP MPs against the Atuabo Gas Project, the project would not have delayed.
He said if the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo care so much for the Western Region, they would have advised the five MPs to desist from doing anything that will prevent progress of the region, wondering why the same people will now be assuring the Western Region of development.
“When have they (NPP) realized that the Western Region deserves development and for that matter Oil Service Hub, when we are trying to create jobs for the people of the region, the NPP was drawing us back, so how can they turn round to say they want to do the same thing. The NPP and Nana Addo with Dr Mahamud Bawumia should be apologizing to the Western Region.”
The Communication Minister however stated that because President Mahama’s administration is focused on transforming the Western Region, it has included the same project in the 2016 Manifesto.
“They are welcomed to join us if they now realize that people of the Western Region deserves development.”
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