Mammoth crowd for Akufo-Addo in Volta was 'rented' - Otokunor

Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress [NDC] has pooh-poohed the warm reception accorded the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo by the people of Tisto in the Volta Region on Sunday, at the start of the latter's two-day tour of the region.

Peter Boamah Otukonor believes the seeming massive support displayed as a show of affection for President Akufo-Addo during the tour was ‘rented'.

President Akufo-Adoo, who arrived in the Volta Region on Sunday, November 3rd, made a stop at Tsito, a town about half an hour drive from the capital, Ho. He was met on arrival by a boisterous crowd and scores of New Patriotic Party (NPP) faithful, who in a frenzied state displayed party paraphernalia while singing the president's praises.

But Peter Boamah Otukonor was emphatic that the President "cannot be that famous" in a region regarded as the headquarters and the ‘birthplace’ of the largest opposition NDC.

He told Kwesi Aboagye, host of NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’, in an interview that the mammoth crowd seen following the President during his tour were arranged for the public eye.

"So the President is in the Volta Region?... Since when?.... Then that means he couldn't partake in the Hogbetsotso, right?....the soundbite you just played could be that of any other group of people showering praise on anybody....over the weekend, former president Mahama attended the EP Church 100th anniversary and whiles heading to Accra from Sogakope, the reception accorded him by residents in and around that area is better seen than described; and that was not a tour."

"It wasn't even a planned trip!...we (the NDC) are unperturbed at all, this so-called mammoth crowd does not tickle or move us. It is a rented crowd...," Otukunor added.