HON. KENNEDY AGYAPONG, YOU DIDN’T MEAN YOUR PROMISE TO THE KROBO PEOPLE?

As the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led government’s first term reign draws to a close, the urge to write to and remind Hon. Kennedy Agyapong about a promise he made my people (Krobos) in the heat of the 2016 election campaign has become irresistible.

was in the studio of KW Radio - a local radio station that once operated from Kpong – on the invitation of a colleague journalist, Omanba Kodwo Boafo, who was the regular host for a programme named Board Issues which aired on Saturdays. I went there as a panelist to discuss a topic I don’t readily remember now. It must have been about either the terrible road network in the area or the Akuse boundary dispute between my people and our Shai Osudoku brothers.

Everything was set for us to go on air when information trickled in that Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin North Constituency, and his entourage had arrived at the station and he badly needed to go on air ahead of a procession/float planned for the next day. Whatever discussion went on between his team and the management of the radio station, I wasn’t privy to. What I remember is that our programme was called off and the slot was offered to Honourable.

Before we could say jack, Hon. Agyapong literally burst into the studio overflowing with confidence and a rare aura. He was trailed by some fanatically spirited party supporters including my own brother, Robert Tetteyfio-Adjase. The hitherto dull atmosphere in the studio got electrified, as should be expected. Party slogans soon filled the air and the studio instantly assumed a red, white and blue colour; Hon. Agyapong was cheered, glorified and if you like hallowed by his youthful aides who kept whooping with laughter and waving and flaunting party paraphernalia with admirable zest and zeal.

I don’t want to say Hon. Agyapong was carried away by the ‘fans’; what I recall is that he became liberal with his promises in a way that subtly suggested that they were impulsively made. I took interest in one of the promises because it offered some hope to the teeming youth and skilled but idle hands in the area.

The Krobo area is noted for the production of mangoes in commercial quantities and Hon. Agyapong reiterated this innumerable times and added that he was saddened and equally fascinated by the sheer number of women traders wearily trading mangoes - at the subsistence level - along the shoulders of the roads. He promised my people a mango factory to create employment and reduce the level of waste that was being experienced by the mango farmers in the area.

He tied the establishment of the factory to votes. All my people needed to do, as per his promise, was to vote for Nana Akuffo Addo to enable him win power and the setting up of the factory was a done deal. I was awed but I was still cautiously optimistic. The thunderous applause from his enthusiastic aides that greeted his proclamation threatened to collapse the storey building housing the radio station. They sang his praise, callers sang his praise too and in a manner that gave the impression that his promise had injected a huge dose of optimism into the people.

These were his words (said partly in twi and translated), “…if you like, vote for Nana Akufo Addo, I will put a mango factory in this three constituencies, challenge me, write it down, we need leaders with vision…” And he cited an example of a similar factory he established with 13 million dollars at Assin Fosu, Assin Nyankomase to be precise.

As my people will put it, ‘Mau n3 be kaa Anago no )’, Nana Addo won the elections. Hon. Teddy Bee, the Parliamentary candidate for Lower Manya, the constituency in which Hon. Agyapong made the promise, also came very close to snatching the seat from the NDC for the very first time. His performance was dreamlike; he reduced what used to be a yawning gap from several thousands to just a little over 300 vote difference, and he did it in a manner that appeared magical for political analysts. To say he unsettled his opponent, Hon. Okletey Terlabie, would be an understatement.

Four years down the line, long after Nana Addo was voted into power and even as the President’s first term draws to a close, the first block for this factory is yet to be molded and conveyed to site. Well, me I don’t know of any acquired land for this purpose, I don’t know of any ongoing project to that effect. I don’t know of any difficulty he has encountered in his bid to set up this factory; all I know is that the promise hasn’t materialized and it doesn’t look like Hon. Agyapong is taking it serious.

Hon. Kennedy Agyapong is noted for walking his talk, he is noted as a man who cares more about keeping his promises and is famous for his inimitable acts of kindness and philanthropy. We all know his liquidity status and can say with an appreciable level of confidence that he can, on his own, marshal resources and raise this factory in record time if indeed he means his promise. That aside, he is well placed in the NPP and the current government and so his ability to pull strings to actualize the promise using state resources is also not in doubt. 

One thing is certain; Hon. Agyapong doesn’t like to be challenged but I am throwing him this challenge to prove to the people of Krobo that he wasn’t taking us for granted when he made what seems to be a promise made on the spur of the moment.

Folks, please tell Hon. that he has an image to redeem, as far as this promise and the Krobo people are concerned.

 NB: First published on Wednesday 2nd December, 2020