[ 2012-07-10 ]

AFAG members (l-r) Mutala Mohammed, Abu Ramadan, Henry Asante and James Appietu-Ankrah

AFAG "Wonkyendi" demo set to hit Takoradi on July 31
Pressure group, Alliance for Accountable
Governance (AFAG), has declared its decision to
demonstrate against what it says is government’s
“desire to prioritize the complete amortization of
judgment debts over the basic needs of
Ghanaians.”

The group says despite several calls on the
government to be circumspect in dolling out large
sums of money in judgement debts to the detriment
of many Ghanaians, government “is interested in
misallocating the hard earned resources of the
state to pay for rather controversial judgement
debts and without any commitment to retrieve such
monies back into the state coffers.”

A statement released by the group and copied to
RadioXYZonlione.com said in view of the
government’s adamant position, AFAG is “announcing
the “WONKYENDI" demo to be held on Tuesday, July
31 2012 at Takoradi, in the Western Region of
Ghana.”

The group said this will serve as the launchpad
for a number of regional demonstrations to force
the government to do what it says will be in the
interest of Ghanaians.

The group said the selection of the Western
Region as its first starting point is due to the
fact that despite the natural resources available
in the region, “the region has for centuries not
benefited from the resources it produces.”

The group added that: “The distribution of the
national cake to the WR as promised by the NDC
government has been reduced to mere rhetoric.
Thus, although oil revenues accrued to state since
2010 is well over 500 million USD, judgement debts
continue to be the priority of the NDC Government
as the infrastructural situations in the WR grow
from worse to worst coupled with the high cost of
living engulfing its indigenes.”

AFAG says all the money being spent to settle
what it contends are shady judgement debts could
have been channeled into developing the region.

“Is it not obvious that the NDC government’s
inability to attend to our developmental needs
today does not stem from insufficient resources,
but rather, a shallow understanding of basic
prioritization of needs and hence remains helpless
in the fight against corruption?” the group
asked.

Enumerating issues that the group believes show
that government has neglected the region, AFAG
alleged that even though government inherited a
$350 million from the American Exim Bank for the
Tarkwa, Bogoso ,Prestea and Yamfori roads, they
have been abandoned.

“The fact that the local economy has become so
bad that farmers cannot afford the high cost of
fertilizers in the cocoa growing areas in the WR.
As of 2008 a bag of cocoa could buy 7 bags of
fertilizer in the WR. However, as of now, a bag of
cocoa can purchase 4 fertilizers,” the group
said.

The AFAG is therefore hopeful that the
demonstration will draw the attention of the
government to the problems facing the region. The
group is also challenging the Western Regional
Minister to deny all the allegations leveled
against the government.

Source - RadioXYZonline.

... go Back