The Minister-designate for Railway Development, Peter Amewu, has retracted death threats he said were made jokingly against some fellow Volta Region MPs who are on the minority side in Parliament.
Mr. Amewu, the Hohoe MP and sole NPP MP in the Volta Region said he was provoked when he made the threats during the dissolution of the 7th Parliament on January 6.
Speaking during his vetting, he recalled that the Minority legislators hooted at him upon arrival in the chamber.
The NDC MPs “welcomed me in quite a hostile way,” Mr. Amewu said, adding that he expected better.
“I thought, as a new member having won a very difficult seat, I should be cheered only to be hooted at [and called a thief.] That actually was, of course jokingly, a trigger.”
But Mr. Amewu proceeded to apologise saying he “unconditionally withdraws the word.”
“I want to withdraw those words unconditionally. My constituency is watching me and Mr. Chairman I am a peaceful man. The use of the words came out as an overreaction which is my negative aspect.”
Mr. Amewu was called a thief because of the controversy surrounding the regional redevelopment that led to Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi being detached from the Hohoe district and put in the new Guan district in the Oti Region.
Those areas, known as SALL, were subsequently unable to vote in the 2020 election.
But Mr. Amewu said he was sure he would have won the polls even if the SALL area remained in Hohoe.
“I just went in as a contestant and unfortunately, for one reason or another, they were not allowed to vote in Hohoe. I sympathise with them and I would have been very happy if the people of SALL had voted because, in 2004 and 2008, those were my strongholds. If they had voted, I would have even won with a higher margin.”
Source: citinewsroom
