Eugene Arhin Clarifies Prez Comment In Volta Region
The Director of Communication at the Jubilee House, Eugene Arhin, has jumped to the defence of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo following public outcry at his remarks during a visit to victims of the dam spillage in the Volta Region.
In a Facebook post, he put down the full speech of the President which read, “𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩 [𝙖𝙣𝙙] 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 – 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙏𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙪, 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙏𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙪, 𝘾𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙪 – 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡.
“𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙞�� 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩. 𝙊𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚.
“𝙏𝙤𝙜𝙗𝙚, 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨, 𝙂𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞 am 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙨, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙨. 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚, 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣. 𝘼𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙮.”
According to the Jubilee House official, the head of state has been taken out of context and blamed an unnamed journalist for the mischief.
In his view, the said journalist intended to cause disaffection for the President.
“You have a journalist (whose political affiliations are well-known) making up his own words for the President, thereby deliberately taking him out of context completely, all with the aim of causing disaffection for the President. These are the kinds of journalism that we must all condemn,” Arhin commented.
Reaction
A section of the masses does not seem convinced by the clarifications. Under his post, social media users left their comments which confirmed the defensive work of Arhin didn’t go so well. It appears it rubbed salt into the wound.
“All this president thinks about is vote! Even when lives are at stake! What a terrible president!!,” one said.
“So someone must explain what the president means anytime he goof in public. Basic English that even basic 2 child understands, you have to explain again. You people will keep suffering to defend this till you learn to correct him,” one added.
“So you’re confirming the fact that your president indeed brought up the issue of votes. OK agreed, that the people of volta region didn’t vote for him ( best decision though), don’t they pay taxes?” asked another.
One quizzed, “Why should he even mention votes in the midst of their pains? I don’t think elections are in their minds as at this time of grief.”
“Bringing in votes was just the lowest point the president could go. No president can have all the votes but when you become president and you want to rule with wisdom, forget about who voted or didn’t vote for you especially in tough times like this. It’s not old age, it’s a deliberate political statement, reflective of the inner feelings of the man who is supposed to be the father of all of us. And I am just shuttered!!!,” said another.
“Tell me, which part of his speech sought to sympathize with the victims of the deliberate spillage?” one wondered.
