Very worrying reports emanating from the Volta region paints a gloomy picture of how President John Dramani Mahama and the governing National Democratic Congress is gradually losing grip on a region christened as its “world bank” in terms of votes.

The intense growing attrition and despondency among core supporters of the governing party is said to be as a result of heavy disappointment with the government’s commitment to the development of the region and how the region’s presence and influence under the Mahama government continue to dwindle.

They say many of the party gurus from the region, most of whom were very active during the Mills administration and who have also demonstrated loyalty and commitment to the NDC since 1992 have been sidelined or are playing second fiddle in the running of the Mahama government.

People of the region are complaining that despite their unflinching commitment to the ruling party which has been unadulterated since the start of multi-party democracy in Ghana, NDC governments have paid lip service to the development of the region as a result of which the NDC supporters in the region say they won’t mind voting out the party in the 2016 elections.

They say, aside the late President John Evans Atta Mills who gave the region a university and drafted roads in the region into the eastern corridor roads project, NDC government under former President Jerry John Rawlings, who is also a ‘son of the land’ did little to develop the region.

Scores of NDC supporters in the Volta region that called into the Mamobi office of The Al-Hajj noted that the worse form of disdain and neglect of the people of the region is under the Mahama government.

According to the aggrieved Voltarians, giving the support and enthusiasm NDC supporters in the region showed the President after the sudden demise of the late President Mills which resulted in the region denying the opposition New Patriotic Party any parliamentary seat, it was expected that key and notable party persons from the area would have been made the “face of the region” in government to represent its interest.

But alas, they said there is none, “the President did a great disservice to us Voltarians by unilaterally deciding who and who should be the interface between the region and his government, even if we don’t know them”, one of them stated.

According to some of them, they are aware of how a particular ‘big man’ supposedly from the region but close to the president is thwarting the appointment of some persons in the region to certain positions. “These people have sacrificed their lives for the party since time in memorial and now that it is time to reward them for us to be well-represented in government, someone who is not known in the party at the region or national level is frustrating their efforts,” they alleged.

According to them, this particular big man with great deal of influence on the president often prefer to favour only people from his hometown to the neglect of the wider party apparatchiks from other parts of the region.

“Why don’t we have people like Hon Richard Quashigah, KokuAnyidoho and other equally hardworking natives from the Volta region in government? These are persons that could have championed the interest of the region in government. They are well known in the region and would have articulated our views properly and to ensure that the region receive its fair share of development. Even someone like Fiifi Kwetey and Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, though are in government have been cocooned,” they claim.

Giving this kind of worrying treatment, the NDC supporters in the party’s bloc vote region say they won’t mind voting the NPP in the 2016 election, as doing so would put pressure on the NPP to amend its position towards how they regard people from the region by bringing meaningful development to them.

One shocking claim the supporters of the ruling party in the region made but which The Al-Hajj has not verified was that, the only premier league club in the region, Hearts of Lion was surreptitiously bought by this same ‘big man’ close to the president but has entrusted Mr Randy Abbey as the owner to avoid public outrage.

They say, using his influence and connection to the president, this senior person is working hard for government to build a new sports stadium at the club’s home ground at Kpando, adding “whiles work on the eastern corridors roads is not getting the needed attention and expedition, this latter day saint is fighting for a sports stadium to be constructed in Kpando because he had bought Hearts of Lions,” they claimed.