Managers of the country are siphoning significant amounts of resources from the Western Region to develop other parts of the country, yet the region is very poor, the flag bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has lamented.
However, the negative consequences of mining these resources are borne by the people of the region only and not everyone in Ghana, hence they deserve to have a visible, significant share of benefits before any other place, Dr Nduom has said.
“This region has natural and human resources. Intelligent people come from here, yet the region has been taken for granted for years. If a chunk of the country’s wealth comes from here, why will politicians want to pay you back with poverty and bad roads?” he quizzed.
Dr Nduom, who visited the Western Region recently as part of his campaign tour, asked the people of the region to channel all their anger and frustrations into voting against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on December 7 and demand for their just reward for being the region that churns out a chunk of the country’s revenues.
He said this when he addressed a press conference at the party’s Western regional office in Takoradi on Tuesday.
According to Dr Nduom, both the NDC and NPP have taken the people of the region for granted for far too long.
“It’s time to show your anger and frustration through your vote on December 7. Mahama can’t come back and say he wants four more years because politically he’s been there for almost eight years,” he added.
Dr Nduom disclosed that President Mahama and the late President Atta Mills came to the region in 2008 to canvass for votes and assured chiefs of the area they would give them 10 per cent of the oil money, only to do a U-turn and say the resource is for all Ghanaians.
He added that the region has had nothing to show for its oil resource as is the case in Akwatia and Obuasi in the Eastern and Ashanti regions respectively.
“The benefits of oil and gas should start from where it’s being produced. This place must be developed first. We must beautify these places before other parts of Ghana enjoy, as has been done in Johannesburg in South Africa,” he said.
He promised the people of the region jobs in the petrochemical industry, as was being done in South Korea, with a first-class international airport.
He said that when he is sworn in as president, all the oil companies whose headquarters are sited in Accra will be encouraged to move to the region.
According to Dr Nduom, when this is done, people will then begin to appreciate the value of the resources.
He said he was happy with the conduct of party supporters so far and urged them to be law-abiding and address party issues using appropriate party internal mechanisms and that what the party needs to do is ensure that its message gets to people.
“Our peaceful nature makes us unique. Leadership has nothing to do with muscle strength,” he stressed.
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM
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