The group said the "so-called Concern Citizens of Okyeman hurriedly put together for partisan purpose does not represent the entire Akyem land," adding that "They are a few politically motivated young men who have come together to do the political bidding of their paymasters."
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Stop unnecessary attacks on Mahama over 'Akyem sakawa boys' tag - Progressive Akyem citizens warn
A youth group calling itself the Progressive Akyem Citizens have called residents of Akyem Abuakwa and its surrounding towns who staged a demonstration against the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, to stop the unnecessary attacks on him.
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On Wednesday, September 9, 2020, the chiefs and people of Akyem Abuakwa and its surrounding towns staged a demonstration against Mahama.
This comes after Bolgatanga Central MP, Isaac Adongo, accused the President and his kith of forming a families-and-friends cartel to capture the mineral resources of the state via the deal in relation to the Agyapa Royalties deal.
He labeled them as "sakawa" and "Akyem mafia". A development that has caught the ire of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and some members of his government.
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The Concerned Citizens after their demonstration gave Mahama a 72-hour ultimatum to apologise to Akyems or stay away from campaigning in any of the Akyem lands.
But the Progressive Akyem Citizens in a statement said the attacks on Mahama was unnecessary and urged them to channel their grievances and energies towards demanding solutions to the enormous challenges facing them.
It said "Adongo in that Facebook post used the Akyem sakawa boys to refer to a few people in government who have been engaging in fraudulent acts and were pushing for another, named Agyapa Royalties deal and that he, at no point referred to us, the people of Akyem, as Sakawa People.
READ MORE: Concerned citizens of Okyeman demonstrate over Mahama's 'Akyem Mafia' and 'Sakawa Boys' tag
"It will, therefore, be an overstretch, born out of partisan political mischief, for anybody to extend and generalise such specific description of a few of our compatriots in government to all Akyems."
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Here's the full statement of the Progressive Akyem Citizens:
OKYEMAN YOUTH MUST STOP THE UNNECESSARY PARTISAN ATTACKS ON JOHN MAHAMA.
We the members of the Progressive Akyem Citizens wish to express our disappointment and shock at the misguided emotionalism and unhealthy political infiltration by a group by name Concern Citizens of Okyeman.
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We see their action as reckless and dangerous to our beautiful democracy built over the years as a country.
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For the purposes of emphasis, let us state unequivocally:
1. That, this so-called Concern Citizens of Okyeman hurriedly put together for partisan purpose does not represent the entire Akyem land. They are a few politically motivated young men who have come together to do the political bidding of their paymasters.
2. As people interested in the development of Akyem, we condemn these acts of political infiltration aimed at maligning other politicians especially John Mahama of the NDC in the name of Okyeman.
3. That, we as a group wish to state in no uncertain terms that the use of the word ‘Akyem Mafia’ and other tribal related comments to refer to Ghanaian politicians in our body politics was not started yesterday and John Mahama of the NDC is not the originator. The first time we heard of the Akyem mafia was when Dr. Kobina Arthur Kennedy, a former campaign manager of then-candidate Akufo-Addo, published in his book entitled ‘Chasing the elephant into the bush: the politics of complacency'. In the said book, Dr. Kennedy sought to describe the behaviour of certain political figures in the NPP who had surrounded Nana Akufo Addo who, according to him, caused his 2008 presidential defeat through their mafia works. This gave birth to the AKYEM/KYEBI MAFIA tag on some few NPP power brokers. Where was this group? What has changed today? Is it that they endorsed the Mafia tag because Dr. Arthur Kennedy was a member of the NPP or it espoused the political might of those few Akyem political power brokers? Isn’t this ridiculous?
4. We also want to state clearly that the post on Facebook which was only republished by Mr. John Mahama has a member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central as the originator.
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5. Why have our brothers decided to crucify Mr. John Mahama who only shared a comment by somebody? Is this a case of let’s hang the dog and give it a bad name?
6. For the records, Hon. Adongo in that Facebook post used the Akyem sakawa boys to refer to a few people in government who have been engaging in fraudulent acts and were pushing for another, named Agyapa Royalties deal. He, at no point, referred to us, the people of Akyem, as Sakawa People.
7. It will therefore be an overstretch, born out of partisan political mischief, for anybody to extend and generalise such specific description of a few of our compatriots in government, to all Akyems.
8. Such a reckless Generalisation, triggered by His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, and inciting this NPP group only seeks to further divide us as Akyems and create unnecessary tension in our Republic.
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9. Rather than showing such blind Solidarity to a few of our Powerful kingsmen in Government, we will advise our compatriots to channel their energies in advising them to behave in a manner that brings honour to us, the citizens of Akyems.
10. Again, We demand no apologies from Mr. John Mahama since he has committed no wrong.
11. We wish to tell our Akyem brothers that there are other pressing issues confronting the various communities in the Akyem area and we expect our brothers to channel our energies towards demanding solutions to our enormous challenges.
12. We expect all of us to judge all political parties by the content of their manifestoes rather than clutching on tribal sentiments that may destroy our peaceful coexistence as a people.
13. Consequently, we will demonstrate in the coming days to show our protest against a few of our compatriots in government!!
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We thank everybody and wish that our friends will cut this pettiness and fight for the welfare of our Akyem land.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
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Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
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