Don’t impose political leaders on Ashanti Region - Group tells Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo

A group of young, vibrant and enthusiastic youth of NPP in the Asante region has called out the presidency and some leaders of the NPP party to back off from supporting Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka Chairman Wontumi as against the popular position and opinion of the many people in the region.

In a statement sighted by Asempanews.com, the Progressive Youth of Asante (PYA) hinted thatsuch a move by the presidency will only damage the support base of Nana Akufo-Addo in the region judging from the fact that Wontumi who the presidency is backing is very unpopular among party folks in the region.

The youth stated that it is erroneous for the presidency to think that the successes chalked in the Ashanti Region in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections are as a result of Wontumi’s singular effort, and thus, deserves to be maintained.

They argue, Wontumi in the broader sense, has been a bad case for the region before and after the elections and that it was the goodwill of the people and the clamorous call for change in the face of the Mahama-led administration’s incompetence and ineptitude that secured the resounding victory for the party in the region.

The youth said that Wontumi has shown gross disrespect to the elders of the party in the region and his own executives. In time past, as the Chairman of the NPP in the region, Wontumi is on record to have insulted party elders like Mr. Ayisi Boateng and while threatened to beat Chairman Mac Manu during a gathering at the Subin Constituency.

His actions and in-actions, according to the group, are alien to Ashanti culture and values. But, that is not the only misgivings.

For the past 9 months, Wontumi as the chairman of the party has not been able to hold a regional Council Meeting because nobody wants to sit down and talk with him. All that he has been interested in is his selfishness and self-aggrandizement. Wontumi virtually sidelined all his executives and council of elder in the region before, during and after the 2016 elections and ran a one-man show in the region.

Over time, Wontumi has proven to be emotionally unstable with no knowledge base.

His views hardly get attention any round at table discussion. He has been an embarrassment for the party in the Asante region. But the region has woken-up to the fact that the continuous stay of Wontumi in office as chairman of NPP in the region is an insult to all Asantes.

The group is therefore calling on the Presidency to stop the imposition tactics and let the democracy prevail in the region. It added that the chunk of state resource being used by the presidency to oil

Wontumi’s campaign could be channelled for other development projects.

PYC cries out that the continuous stay of a presidency-sponsored Wontumi is will be an affront to the democratic tenets and principles of Ghana and the NPP in particular.

It will be an indictment on the reputation of Nana Akufo-Addo as a democrat. This has a huge potential to hurt his ratings in the Asante region and shake his fortunes and that of the party in the region in the 2020 election.

PYA is therefore calling on the delegates in the region to reject the second bid of Wontumi for someone who is matured, a unifier, intelligent and strategic to occupy the chairmanship position.

PYA is therefore calling on the presidency to either back off from showing open support for Wontumi or suffer a humiliation.



The group quizzed; “will Nana Akufo-Addo allow a person with such an embarrassing demeanor like Wontumi to be the face of the party in his home region, the Eastern Region?”.

“We leave that for the President and the public to answer, they said. The group added that this is the kind of Socialist tactics that Nkrumah and NDC have been using since independence to impose puppets, selfish and short sigthened light weights on Asante.

“Leading to Asante suffering from gross mal development and not getting our fair share of the national cake: despite providing most of the resources of the country. The nation has used up our gold till depletion ( Obuasi) for the development of Ghana without any meaningful development of Ashanti Region.

“Now, the nation is mortgaging our Bauxite ( Asante has 75% of the best quality in Ghana) to the Chinese for nineteen billion dollars ($19 BILLION) and yet there are no appropriate development plans for Asante as the budget statements show in the past and future, the group charges.

“We as a people will never allow the presidency to impose a puppet on us to be used for the neglect of Asante. Enough is enough as the region’s magnanimity has its limit and has been exhausted it with fake promises”, the group said.

The region would never forgive Nana Akufo-Addo if Wontumi wins, the group strongly stated.