The Youth of the Akyem land have posited that they would have been at peace with the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), candidate John Dramani Mahama if he had singled out the specific persons he referred to in the now-infamous “Akyem Sakawa Boys” statement.
According to them, it was in a bad taste for the president to quote a post generalizing Akyem’s as Sakawa Boys.
In an interview with Ransford Addo, a concerned youth of the Akyem land with Happy 98.9 FM’s Samuel Eshun, host of the Happy Morning Show, he said, “We’re not politicians and if candidate Mahama had made reference to specific people instead of calling Akyems Sakawa Boys, we would not have had a problem with him.”
“But by using the term tarnishing the image of all kinsmen of Okyeman, we are not pleased. We expected him to retract the statement but he (Mahama) didn’t and that is why we engaged in the demonstration. We are not happy with his quote.”
Noting that “Sakawa” is a derogatory term which no one wants to be associated with, he revealed that others have started using the term for all Akyem’s which is unfair. “I entered an office yesterday and someone said the ‘Akyem Sakawa’ boy is here and I was not pleased with it.”
When asked why the youth of Akyem did not criticize the originator of the post, Bolgatanga Central Constituency MP, Isaac Adongo he replied, “Candidate Mahama is a leader who is expected to reprimand people like Isaac Adongo when they make such statements. But he quoting it adds more credence to this defamatory statement.”
“It would have been nice if he had spoken against the initial post by Isacc Adongo but now that he has quoted the post, we expect him to retract and apologize. If he does that, the MP will do the same.”
The youth who was emotional about the ‘Akyem Sakawa Boys’ comment motioned that if candidate Mahama refuses to apologize, the people of Akyem “will listen to our chiefs and advise ourselves”.
The former President recently quoted a post from MP of Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo titled: “Agyapa Royalties Fraud Is The Last Straw: The Akyem Sakawa Boys and Grandpas Must Go” in which he described President Akufo-Addo’s reign as one overrun by family and friends and tagged them variously as “Akyem Mafia” and “Akyem Sakawa Boys.”
By: Joel Sanco
