By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The outgoing President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has unveiled a statue of himself, attracting backlash from social media users in the country who query the value of the project amidst depleting standard of living.
President Akufo-Addo unveiled the statue during a tour of the country’s Western Region, a monument which seeks to recognise developmental initiatives the President has achieved since assumption of office, the region’s minister Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah says.
The edifice located in front of Sekondi’s Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital was unveiled on Wednesday during the President’s “thank-you tour”.
At the ceremony, Darko-Mensah, who oversees the Western Region, highlighted several key projects initiated under the President.
Many Ghanaians have however expressed reservation over the statue in the city of Sekondi, seeing it as “self glorification”.
They have questioned its importance when several key projects remain uncompleted.
“The people of the Western Region deserve better than these self-serving displays,” opposition MP Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah posted on X.
Akufo-Addo will in January step down as leader of the West African nation after the constitutional two terms in power.
He has praised himself, claiming to have fulfilled 80% of his promises to Ghanaians.
“It would be admirable if the president had allowed posterity to recognise and appreciate his work,” an X user posted.
A section of the public is calling for the statue, photos of which have gone viral to be pulled down after the President leaves office.
During his tour, the 80-year-old President had lauded his policy to scrap fees for secondary schools as his “most significant legacy”.
He urged the people of the region to vote for his party, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its candidate, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, in next month’s general election.
The Vice President will slug it out the candidate of National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama, who is seeking a comeback.
In Nigeria in 2017, a former governor of Imo State, South East Nigeria, Rochas Okorocha drew controversy when he unveiled statues of some personalities at the Heroes Square.
They include, Nigeria’s first President, Nnamdi Azikiwe; former Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa; former military governor of the defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria, Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu; first democratic governor of Imo State, Sam Mbakwe; former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma and others.
They were all later demolished by his successor, Emeka Ihedioha who was sacked by the Supreme Court.
