By Amos Blessing Amorse

The more President Akufo Addo and his political hangers-on attempt to play smart, the more they are badly exposed and embarrassed. The President, as part of a ground preparing strategy to visit Volta region, announced at NPP's recently held Delegates conference that Pius Enam Hadzide had been exonerated. True to his words, a statement was issued by the'Big House' to officially add Pius to the list of persons cleared by the President.

After tickling himself with this 'clearing job', the President hurriedly announced a tour of the Volta region, thinking by clearing Pius, it will blur the eyes and shift away the minds of Voltarians from his abysmal performance so far. Though this juvenile strategy smacks of insults of the highest degree, the President and his lapdogs thought it was a master stroke strategy to play on the intelligence of Voltarians. Mind you, Pius is one of the few Voltarians serving in this Akyem dominated government. His exit from government will cause a cataclysmic damage to the political fortunes of the NPP in 2020.

An alibi broached by one communicator of the NPP was that the visit was planned before the CID concluded its investigations. This explanation, in all due respect, betrays the level of intelligence of the person who made it a much vaunted cliche. One thing about Akufo Addo's government which makes the political actors sound like dullards when they open their mouths is that, they think Ghanaians are dummies. They think any fluvial explanation to stinking issues about government is accepted by all Ghanaians. The places Akufo Addo intends to tour in the Volta region makes nonsense of this explanation being canvassed.

Surprisingly, Pius' 'home', Ketu North, was one of the first places Akufo Addo visited on the first day of his three day tour of the region. Interestingly, the President was in the Volta region with the Youth and Sports Minister, Isaac Asiamah, who, courtesy Kweku Baako, we are told wanted Pius out long before the misfortune laid hands on him. The most intriguing aspect of all this childish mind game by Akufo Addo which further exposed his intention to hurriedly reinstate Pius without any thorough investigation is that, a relative of the hitherto beleaguered deputy Sports Minister who doubles as Paramount Chief of Afife Traditional Area, Torgbui Adrakpanya VI, was, sorry to say and without any malice intended, the ostensible pacifying tool used to shower empty praises on Akufo Addo for a good job done so far.

Assuming Pius had not been cleared, do you honestly think Akufo Addo and his Sports Minister will have the courage to make a grand and ceremonious stop at Afife, let alone visit the Paramount chief and his people? The intention behind the reinstatement casts a slur on the supposed CID investigation, that is, if there is any. The idea was to exonerate Pius at all cost to pave way for Akufo Addo to enter Volta region. From the onset, it appeared the CID and the presidency had a template to work with. This has been the strategy of Akufo Addo when it comes to fighting corruption involving his appointees.

When there is public uproar about his appointees, he will quickly suspend the affected person to paint a picture that he is fighting corruption. When Ghanaians put the issue behind them thinking it's being investigated, then the President will use his much loved phrase, "Mr so so and so has been CLEARED'. The President is good at fire fighting approach. He hurriedly reacts to issues to suppress the sensibilities and emotions of Ghanaians and later give the affected persons black cheque to do worse things.

But Akufo Addo's tricks did not work to perfection this time round. While he was cleansing his dented image in the eyes of Voltarians with the reinstatement of Pius, his newly elected preferred National Chairman, Freddy W A Blay, arrogantly insulted the 'overlord' of Asogli who doubles as President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede. Freddy Blay, who has suddenly become extremely and filthy rich, equated Togbe Afede's opinion on his 275 buses to "palm wine business talk". As usual, his minions are heartily applauding him for directing a befitting response at the much venerated Chief. Well, I'm not in a position to speak for the Chief. It's a dog bite dog fight.

It's a lesson to Togbe Afede himself that NPP members are not characters to play ball with. The unsolicited insults directed at him is an insult to all Voltarians. The chief may choose to rub it on himself because he has soft spot for some persons in the governing party. In this game of politics, sometimes your virulent critic becomes your much loved friend. Bottom line is, while the CID prepared the grounds for Akufo Addo to mend fences in Volta, Freddy Blay miraculously further scattered the fence. Let's see how Akufo Addo struggles to mend it agains before exiting Volta region. He may end up leaving Volta with an aggravated political bruises.

Domeabra Obom Constituency
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