Konkomba Youth: We have become worse off under Mahama

Tikpaan 4 NPP, a Konkomba youth group, has condemned President John Dramani Mahama’s appointment of Mr. Roland Kofi Mbui, President of the Konkomba Youth Association, as a Presidential Staffer.

The appointment, the group said, is a potential mundane action by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to disunite Konkombas .

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, Mr Joshua Makubu, Public Relations Officer of the group said: “We believe that the total absence of Konkombas from President Mahama’s ministerial appointments is a deliberate attempt to marginalize and render Konkombas vulnerable in several ways and this could be due to hatred.”

He said Konkombas had become worse off since President Mahama came into power, with a drastic fall in the price of yam, the main produce of Konkombas, and the indifference to a return of the perennial water problems that once plagued the Nkwanta North District.

According to the group, President’s Mahama’s appointment of Mr. Mbui is an attempt to buy the conscience of the Konkombas, and silence them from demanding their due share of the national cake.

“We will resist any attempt by Mbui and Mahama to make it seem like Konkombas have been fairly represented in the NDC government.”

He said Tikpaan 4 NPP believes that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has Konkombas at heart, and that they seek to maximize the NPP votes in Konkomba communities in the 2016 General Election.

Mr Makubu noted that former President John Agyekum Kufuor's administration saw the highest number of ministerial appointments from within the Konkombas, adding, “former President Jerry John Rawlings made one and John Evans Atta Mills, two.”

According to him, this was the first time in the history of the youth group that one of its leaders has joined forces with a ruling government, and deemed the appointment as an act of betrayal that would breed suspicion and disdain for their future aspiring leaders.

He said the group has also downplayed Dr Joseph Mamboah-Rockson’s claim that the alienation of Konkombas from ministerial appointments is due to lack of competence.