A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has revealed that Members of Parliament from the Ashanti Region preferred the construction of community roads over flyovers in their constituencies.
He expressed surprise at hearing an Ashanti MP apologise to constituents for the government’s failure to build flyovers during its eight-year tenure.
Gabby explained that the NPP government prioritized the actual needs of the people—such as improving internal roads—rather than imposing projects it believed they needed.
“I heard somebody saying in the Ashanti Region that we let Ashantis down because we didn’t fix their roads. NPP let Ashantis down because they didn’t have flyovers. But I had been in meetings where MPs from the Ashanti region had said that they did not need flyovers, but they want their community roads done, and in politics, you are supposed to give people what they say they want, not what you think they want.
They wanted their community roads, and when you look at the number of roads that were done in Ashanti per capita across the country, you can’t say NPP let Ashanti Region down. Yet an NPP person was apologising for disappointing the Ashantis for neglecting the Ashanti region,” he stated while addressing party faithful.
He continued, “Now if you want to win in 2028, and this is your attitude, that you have accepted that you did not do well. There is a difference between humility and knocking yourselves down. You can show humility. Maybe you expected more from us, and we are sorry that we couldn’t deliver all that you expected.
How is 2028 going to be your best chance? How can you go and convince Ghanaians that I’ve failed you but bring me back to power? You must be bolder in defending what you did, you must be humble in accepting where you fell short and you must have the confidence to say that inspite of this and that I can tell you that I have built more roads than any government that has spent the number of times that I have spent in office”.
