Hohoe Chiefs Stab Togbega Gabusu

A GROUP of chiefs in the Hohoe municipality have distanced themselves from concerns raised by the Paramount Chief of Gbi Traditional Area, Togbega Gabusu against government over the snail pace of development in the Volta region. The chiefs numbering nine have notified the President that the utterances of Togbega Gabusu did not represent their views. �We the under listed chiefs wish to disassociate ourselves from all the utterances and statements of Togbega Gabusu VI in recent times against the performance of the Atta Mills led government in the Volta Region and the Hohoe Municipality in particular,� they said in a statement during a press recent conference. They are Togbe Delume V of Ve, Togbe Agboka VI of Leklebi, Togbe Homatekpor of Gbledi, Nana Otiti Aku III of Santrokofi and Togbe Adza Adiaku V of Logba Alakpeti. The rest are Togbe Adom X of Agate, Togbe Adanu Sakrafo of Goviefe, Togbe Asemtsra of Have and Togbe Tsedze Atakora VII, Paramount Chief of the Alavanyo Traditional Area. About a week ago Togbega Gabusu reiterated concerns by the Volta Regional House of Chiefs of which he is the former President expressing its discontentment over the bad road infrastructure in the region and the Eastern Corridor roads, s well the abandoned University of Health and Allied Sciences. He said the site where the sod was cut for the university in Ho had become a forest which animals use as their habitat. His submission Justas the ones in the past gained a lot of media attention and caused the Volta Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph Amenowode to hold his first press conference since assuming office. This was followed by a demonstration by the Alhaji Bello-led, NDC Youth for Action group last Wednesday which was disrupted by the police who arrested 12 persons including Alhaji Bello and one woman. According to the chiefs who were addressing a press conference which turned out to be a durbar interspersed with fan fair of the �borborbor� dance, Togbega Gabusu was only one of 20 paramount chiefs in the Hohoe municipality, hence his views should not be considered as that of all other chiefs in the area and for that matter, the region. These were contained in a statement read by Togbe Tsedze Atakora VII. The press conference also witnessed the bussing of some community members to the venue to fill the many seats that were arranged for the event. The press conference which was supposed to have been the initiative of the chiefs saw NDC constituency executives in Hohoe North and other members virtually becoming organisers of the programme. Some people at the conference were seen in brand new Atta Mills for 2012 T-shirts as though it was an NDC press conference. They later changed into plain clothes apparently after realising their presence was generating some suspicion and attention from the media. Contrary to the position of the Togbega Gabusu and the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, the nine chiefs believe the pace of the development is the best the Hohoe municipality in particular and the region as a whole. They listed 17 projects at a total cost of nine billion Ghana cedis in the Gbi Traditional Area alone and added that similar and even better ones are ongoing in other parts of the municipality and the across the region. They consequently considered the concerns of Togbega Gabusu as unfair. Togbe Atakora said: �it is not fair for anybody irrespective of the massive infrastructural development going on across the length and breadth of the Volta Region��..to hide behind the issue of the Eastern Corridor and the Volta University projects to unnecessarily chastise the performing Atta Mills government.� Interestingly, Togbe Delume V who was at the meeting of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs a fortnight ago when the House raised similar concerns did not give any concrete reasons for ditching his colleague chief. In his defence, he said the press conference was not against Gabusu but to clarify the perception that Gbi traditional area represented the whole of Hohoe. The chiefs through Togbe Atakora pledged their unflinching support to the Mills government and urged the president to �ignore all baseless criticisms in the Volta region.� They urged Mills to work closely with his appointees including the Mr. Amenowode and all the municipal and district chief executives in the region. Finally, Togbe Atakora clarified that the reported walkout by chiefs at the Hohoe Municipal Assembly session was erroneous since only Togbega Gabusu and his sub-chiefs stormed out over an issue of representation.