Prez Akufo-Addo in Ashanti Region for two-day visit
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has introduced a new practice of spending one weekend of every month in any other region apart from Greater Accra. Addressing the media on the novelty by the President, the Information Minister, Mr Mustapha Abdul Hamid, said it was a programme that the President intended to institutionalise during his tenure.
Advertisement
“The President intends that in every single month of his tenure, he would spend a weekend in a region outside Accra,” Mr Hamid stressed.
This is to enable him to have constant interaction with the people and listen to their views regarding the way he is running the country.
He would also use the opportunity to tap ideas from citizens as he goes about the governance of the country.
First trip
The first in the series of the regional visits, Mr Hamid announced, is to the Ashanti Region this weekend, where the President is expected to undertake rigorous activities beginning from yesterday.
On his arrival, Mr Hamid said, the President would first pay a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
He would also meet with leaders of transport unions in the region in view of the importance of transportation to the people and the resolve of the government to ensure an affordable transport system for the public.
The government, he said, had already taken two major steps in the hope that they would help alleviate the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian who patronises public transport.
Mr Hamid said those two interventions were the scrapping of the tax on imported spare parts and a reduction in the petroleum levy.
“We are already beginning to see a kind of reduction in the prices of fuel in our country,” he said,
The meeting with transport union leaders is, therefore, to see how best government-transport unions’ collaboration would help to mitigate fuel and transport fare hikes.
The climax of the visit would be on Sunday, when President Akufo-Addo is expected to address a rally to be organised by the regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to thank God for making it possible for the party to run a successful campaign that had brought it to power.
It is also believed that the President’s trip to the Ashanti Region might be a response to recent incidents in the region that might have implications for the unity and cohesion of the party.
The visit, therefore, is believed to be part of efforts to ensure that cool heads prevail within the rank and file of the party in the region.
Infant mortality
President Akufo-Addo is also expected to visit the much talked about abandoned Maternity Block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
That, Mr Hamid explained, had been necessitated by the recent child deaths recorded in that hospital due to the inadequacy of child care facilities.
He said the President would visit the abandoned block to ascertain what the challenge was and how his government could provide a solution to the spate of child mortality in the region.
Other activities
The President would also visit the Kumasi Central Market which is the hub of economic activities in the region.
During the visit, President Akufo-Addo would join worshippers at two churches, the Saint Cyprian Anglican Church and the Bantama Methodist Church, both in Kumasi, as well as the Central Mosque.
He would also have an interaction with the media on national issues.
