Togbe Afede XIV
The thirty-three traditional areas making up the Asogli State in the Volta Region have declared the Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay as unwanted in the Volta Region.
They said this decision is based on Blay’s reluctance to issue an unqualified apology to the President of the Asogli Traditional Council, Togbe Afede XIV for the insulting comments he made against him.
The Traditional Council, at a News conference addressed by Togbe [ads1]Koku Ayim V, Paramount Chief of Ziavi, described the conduct of Mr. Blay as “gross misbehavior,” and that the Council could not guarantee his safety in the region.
Afede had said in regards to Blay’s 275 buses purchase, “Let me say that the frequency of corruption at elections is worrying because that sequence itself suggests the lack of trust and lack of transparency. And I think that we all have to work hard to minimize the frequency of perceptions of corruption and corruption. Nananom should lead the fight and should talk for transparency.”
A comment that didn’t go down well with the NPP Chairman. He responded by saying the remarks by Togbe Afede smacks of one by a palm wine tapper.
The Council said Mr. Blay had “unfairly misjudged, unjustifiably employed misguided statements and intentionally insulted the integrity and personality of Togbe Afede,” though he married from the Traditional Council.
Togbe Ayim said the “insults are indirect attacks on chiefs of Eweland,” particularly when calls by recognized bodies for apology went unheeded.
However, Blay issued an apology letter earlier this month to Togbe Afede. He wrote: “I Freddie Blay, upon careful thought realize it’s an insult to the Asogli State and the people of the State. I also know it is bad manners to insult a chief or an elder in public since anyone who is born from a home in Ghana must know this,”
The Council said it was not aware of any apology by Mr. Blay to Togbe Afede and Asogli Chiefs in the media and that no such apology was in their records, saying, his working relationship with the Council had been “tainted”.