The Asante Youth Association has issued a one-month ultimatum to the government to urgently resume work on various abandoned projects in the Ashanti Region.
The group has threatened to embark on a massive protest against the government if it fails to comply.
The association is also calling on the government to prioritize development in the region, lamenting that the Akufo-Addo-led government has neglected the area despite it being the New Patriotic Party’s stronghold.
The Asante Youth Association cited the abandoned phases two and three of the Kumasi International Airport project, phase two of Kejetia-Central Market redevelopment project and the Mother and Baby Unit at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
Other projects include; roads within the Manso enclave, Kwabre East, Bosomtwe among others.
Speaking to Citi News, the Vice President of the Asante Youth Association, Nana Oppong Boadi, expressed disappointment in the Akufo-Addo government, insisting that the President has not been fair to the inhabitants of the Ashanti Region.
He added that if the government does not take urgent steps to address the various concerns they are raising, protesting against the government would be the last resort.
“All Kumasi projects are at a standstill,” Boadi said.
“The Central Market project is abandoned, Komfo Anokye Maternity Block, Airport Project, we don’t know what is going on again. Bosomtwe road we don’t know what is going on again. Manso Nkwanta, Anhiawa Nkwanta, Kwabre roads, no work is going on. They have not started any major work in Suame.”
“From today till November, if these projects are still abandoned, and the contractors of those who are supposed to work are not on the site, we will go there ourselves and see if they are not there, we are going to protest. We will organize all the youth in Asante kingdom to fight. It is uncalled for. The way Asantes rallied behind President Akufo-Addo, we never expected him to do this, he has not been fair to Asantes and NPP people in the region.”
The group has also expressed its disappointment with the Ashanti Region residents who have been appointed to ministerial positions and the over 40 Members of Parliament in the region for not doing enough to lobby for development.
They have thus threatened to campaign against the MPs in the general elections if they don’t put in place measures to ensure the region receives its fair share of development.
A political historian at KNUST, Prof. Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, however, wants the electorates in the region to take serious measures to demand development from the NPP-led government and resort to protests if need be.
He believes this will make the government take the region seriously.
The group has been in existence for the past 70 years and has been advocating for development in the region.
