The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has taken exception to President Akufo-Addo’s assertion that Ghanaians are lucky to have him at the helm.

According to him, the comments by the President were ‘unnecessary’.

Speaking in an interview with Benjamin Akakpo on the AM Show, the MFWA boss said Akufo-Addo became President on the will of Ghanaians, and therefore he should rather be appreciative of the privilege given to him.

“I think it was an unnecessary comment. I believe that the President should also count himself lucky for being a leader over the Ghanaian people. It is the Ghanaian people who gave him that opportunity. He did not go and buy that title from London and then came to impose it on us.

“It is we the Ghanaian people who decided to give him that opportunity to be the leader of the country, which then enables him to fly in luxurious private jets that you and I cannot afford”, Mr Braimah noted on Monday.

Background

Addressing a gathering of chiefs and people in the Yapei-Kusawgu District as part of his recently ended tour of the Upper West and Savannah regions, President Akufo-Addo said the country is lucky to have him as President, amidst the prevailing economic challenges.

According to him, even though there are existing difficulties, his regime is the best thing that could have happened to Ghanaians.

“You are lucky you have me as the President of Ghana”, he remarked.

In his submissions, he also berated the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for failing to spearhead development in the area.

He said he is disappointed in the opposition NDC for doing little for the community, despite having represented them in Parliament for many years.

“What this tells me is that the 8 elections conducted in Ghana since 1992 have always gone to the National Democratic Congress and yet when I come here, I hear all of these demands.

The young man who for a long time was Deputy Minister of power, 17 communities in his district still have not been connected to electricity grid”, he noted.

He then pledged the commitment of his government to dealing with the litany of problems, which the chiefs of the area drew to his attention.

Commenting on this drift, Mr Braimah said the President’s disappointment does not have basis.

According to him, there are also areas who have been predominantly voting for the NPP but are yet to see any meaningful development.

Citing the case of the Ashanti Region and the Suame Constituency, Mr Braimah said the MP for the area, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has been an MP for many years, yet the constituents still complain about developmental deficits.

The MFWA Director, therefore, emphasised that the President’s comments were undesirable and should not have come from him.