'He meant no disrespect' - Sammi Awuku defends Akufo-Addo's Ekumfi neglect comment

Sammi Awuku has come to the rescue of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following his comment about the Ekumfi community when some traditional leaders paid a visit to him at the Jubilee House.

The President disclosed before the traditional leaders that he had purposely neglected the community in the area of development because they voted against a New Patriotic Party parliamentary candidate, Francis Ato Cudjoe.

Francis Ato Cudjoe lost the parliamentary elections to Abeiku Crentsil in the 2020 elections, and according to the president, this decision by the residents discouraged him from providing development to them.

“Ato Cudjoe was your MP, and I made him a Deputy Minister, and you voted him out in the last elections, and because of that, I did not pay attention to development in your area. I have to be honest with you, but since you have brought it up, I will pay attention to it," he said.

The President has since come under a barrage of criticism, with one of his critics being Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, a governance lecturer at the Central University.

Dr. Otchere-Ankrah slammed President Akufo-Addo, saying he would not have made such remarks when he was pleading with Ghanaians to vote him into power.

“You wouldn’t have said the same thing if you were a candidate. You would never say this thing," he replied.

He added, “When you were being sworn in and while you were holding the Bible, you pledged to serve the entire nation without favoritism. There is already suspicion that the president has neglected certain constituencies. At first, it was a suspicion, but we now know that that is how you are ruling the country. It is not good. You are giving your communicators a difficult job.”

But Sammi Awuku has called on Ghanaians to cut the president some slack.

According to him, the President meant no harm; rather, he was making the people aware of the fact that, due to the absence of Ato Cudjoe as their parliamentary representative, he lost sight of the community.

He emphasized that the president's comments were not made in contempt.

"He didn't say it to disrespect the Ekumfi community, but he said it in the context that, truthfully, when Ato Cudjoe left, it made it difficult for him to follow up on some things," he said on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" flagship programme.