By Frank Amponsah
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has denied ever announcing his presidential ambition in the Ashanti Region during a recent visit.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto in a statement he issued indicated that the media have distorted a lot of information concerning his recent meeting with some 17 constituency executives of the party in the regional capital, Kumasi, where he had gone to rest.
He also denied ever spending GHc1 million on his visit with the delegation and chastising the Akufo-Addo government for neglecting roads in the region.
According to Dr Afriyie, per the constitution of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), nominations have not been opened for interested candidates to announce their intentions to contest for any position in the party and that for anyone to seek to create the impression that he held a meeting to announce his bid was unfortunate.
The Food and Agriculture minister intimated he decided to go to Kumasi and have some rest during the weekend and try to recover from a fever “I was running after I attended the budget reading in parliament on Friday, 12 March 2021.”
“As a former Member Of Parliament in the region and as a senior member of this government, I accepted to grant audience to some party executives who had been making calls for a meeting to discuss matters concerning the welfare of the party. However, such meetings will end with an amount given as transportation to guests who came from far and near,” he said.
Meanwhile, it was reported that he spent up to GHS1,000,000.00 Ghana Cedis at the said meeting to announce his bid for the position.
“This is not only incorrect but it could only be in the imaginations of the one making those claims. Meeting 17 constituency executives for each of the 47 constituencies in my house meant I was receiving about 700 delegates. My house does not have the capacity to accommodate such numbers. How, therefore, can one assume that I paid almost One Million Ghana Cedis to these NPP executives in one day?” he quizzed.
He averred also that another regrettable claim by the narrators is that he sought to ride on the back of his long-term relationship with President Akufo-Addo to prosecute my political ambition, saying that it is no secret that he has a very close relationship with President Akufo-Addo, which predates our political careers, but it can only be a figment of one’s imagination to assume that he will put the President in such an uncomfortable situation by using his name to campaign.
According to him, he always keeps telling people that the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had over the last four years, done a lot to bridge the infrastructural gap not only in the Ashanti Region but all over the country, despite admitting there were lot more to be done, and for someone to interpret this as he saying the government has neglected Ashanti Region roads really beats his wildest imagination.
He encouraged each and everyone, including the media, to refrain from acts that have the tendency to derail the historical gains made by the Government of His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo and ensure continuation in development.
