NPP Roasts Krobo Chief �For Declaring Support For NDC

Furious supporters and executives of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Lower Manya Krobo and Upper Manya Krobo constituencies of the Eastern region have served notice to embark on a massive demonstration against the paramount chief of Manya Krobo traditional area, Nene Sakitey II. The supporters are demanding that the chief retracts and apologizes to his subjects over comment made that Krobos will forever vote for the National Democratic Congress. Addressing a joint press conference on Tuesday at Odumasi Krobo, Alias Aduimado, the Upper Manya constituency secretary of the NPP stated that the party is expecting the paramount chief to diplomatically render unqualified apology to the people of Manya Krobo, or they will advice themselves. Nene Sakitey II, in December, 2014 made a statement during the commissioning of the Kpong water Treatment Plant by President John Mahama that �I hope that your stay over here will be fruitful. We here in Manya Krobo care about you so much; we care about your government and we'll vote for you all the time.� The NPP ,however, believe that the comment was unfortunate: ''it is unfortunate for our paramount chief to stand on a public platform and start campaigning for President John Mahama and the NDC ahead of 2016 general election in contravention of Article 276 clause 1 of the 1992 constitution which bans chiefs from active politics.� The party further stated that, ''We wish to state emphatically that the purported statement by the chief does not in any way represent the position of the people of Manya Krobo. Considering the diversity of opinions and political persuasions in Manya Krobo, it cannot be said that the chief has spoken for the Krobos," adding that �the statement made by the chief as they are aware is not the official position of the Manya Krobo Traditional council of which he is the President.� He challenged the paramount chief to explain the mandate in which he made the statement on behalf of the traditional council and its subjects. They posited that, the electorates in the two Krobo constituencies have always voted according to their conscience and not according to the dictates of any paramount chief. According to them, the NDC government has taken Krobo people for granted consistently since the inception of the Fourth Republic and as a result Krobos have decided to change their voting pattern come 2016 by voting massively for the NPP. They said, the Krobos have acknowledged with gratitude how their lives have been positively affected during the NPP era under former President John Kufuor in terms of the numerous social interventions such as the free maternal care, school feeding programme, capitation grant and granting them two districts among others. Supporters of the party rhetorically asked that, if the NPP should win power in 2016, what will be the posture of the chief towards the NPP having mislabeled Krobos in the light he did and what would he expect a future NPP government to adopt towards the Krobos.