Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has lashed out at the General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie for alleging that government is trying to massage figures of the 2010 Population and Housing Census from the Volta Region.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show, Mr. Ablakwa described Sir John’s statement as reckless and bloodthirsty.
To him, Sir John’s wild allegation could have plunged the nation into a state of confusion, adding the only thing that probably saved the situation was the fact that majority of Ghanaians do not pay heed to him.
“Sir John put out a wild allegation that government is trying to bloat the Volta Region figures that is why the statistical service could not declare the provisional results. That is a very reckless and bloodthirsty statement which could have plunged this nation into something else if it had not been that the majority of Ghanaians really know Sir John and probably do not take him serious. If he was taken serious and people wanted to react to what he said, you can imagine what would have happened,” he stated.
He noted that Sir John is doing more harm to the NPP than good.
“Sir John is isolating other regions…he is only interested in results from the Ashanti region and has not even taken his time to analyze the data. If he isolates all the other regions… all nine regions might decide to rise up against the Ashanti region because of this recklessness, loose talk without basis and evidence,” he warned.
According to him, it does not only take the Ashanti region to win election, emphasizing that census collation is not about winning an election but about development.
“I don’t understand these fixation on Ashanti region as if you need only one region to win an election, our parties must be national in character and we must take interest in or at least be concerned with all the other regions. This whole census thing is about development, not just about winning election, I get the impression that some of our politicians only care about winning election and coming into power,” he added.
He reckons that Sir John’s penchant for recklessness has gotten out of hand adding that it is about time some cool heads within the NPP call him to order.