By Yussif Ibrahim
Mamponteng (Ash), Aug. 9, GNA – The Chiefs and people of Kwabre East in the Ashanti Region are up in arms with the government for what they call a “perennial neglect of the Municipality in terms of infrastructural development”.
They believe they have been handed a raw deal by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) despite remaining loyal to the party over the years.
At a press conference to register their displeasure about their plight at Mamponteng on Tuesday, Barima Saasi Ayeboafo II, Chief of Mamponteng served notice that there was going to be a paradigm shift from voting on party lines to development-oriented policies, if their situation remained unchanged.
Hundreds of residents clad in red and black attire thronged the Chief’s Palace where the conference was held to support the traditional leader.
Led by market women and the youth, the charged crowd poured out their frustration about the lack of development in the Municipality as they sang and danced to brass band music ahead of the press conference.
Barima Ayeboafo expressed extreme anger, describing the poor state of development of the Municipality as political neglect of the highest order.
“The Kwabre East Constituency which could be christened the “voting capital of the ruling party’s world bank” is the most deprived constituency in the Ashanti Region,” he stated.
He said Mamponteng which is the Municipal capital, had no single tarred road, public senior high school and fit-for-purpose hospital for the past 35 years when the Municipality was established.
“Nothing could best describe the deliberate neglect and dangerously punitive generational political culture than the conspicuous absence of Mamponteng, the Municipal capital, from the ambitious Agenda 111 Programme to construct hospitals across the country,” he lamented.
The Agenda 111 Policy neglect and institutional inertia against the background of not a single purpose hospital in Mamponteng, according to the Chief, was the last straw that triggered the press conference.
He described the neglect of the Municipality despite giving the ruling party the highest votes in 2016 and 2020 elections, as a clear case of the neglect of the goose that laid the golden eggs.
“Our state of development remains a major scar, a worrying narrative and an affront to our collective dignity to exercise our right to some basic development facilities fundamental to the comfort, security and survival of our people,” he observed emotionally.
He said Mamponteng was the only Municipal capital in the country without a single kilometre of tarred road since it was carved out of the Sekyere District 35 years ago.
Barima Ayeboafo demanded that the government should come forth with a definite plan and a blue print based on the concerns raised to assure the Chiefs and people of Kwabre-East Municipality of immediate steps being taken towards addressing these critical infrastructural issues.
GNA