“That’s not a demonstration. It’s a joke!” -Western Regional Minister dismisses SekondiTakoradiDeservesBetter protest

The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has expressed disregard for the recent demonstration that took place in Sekondi-Takoradi on Friday, October 27, 2023.

During the demonstration, residents of Sekondi-Takoradi, donned in red and black, voiced their discontent with the level of development in the metropolis.

In an interview with Accra-based Asempa FM, the regional minister questioned the significance of the protest, stating, “this is not an issue. Look at the number of people that went; Takoradi people don’t believe in what they [protesters] said. How many are they?”

When asked if the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) dominance in Sekondi-Takoradi was at risk, he refuted such claims, stating that it was not under threat.

He downplayed the demonstration, stating, “it’s not…not at all. Just assembling 100 people to run around the town? That’s not a demonstration. It’s a joke. Takoradi is not under threat, it has never been under threat because we are seeing things that the people of Takoradi say we should do.”

“We are building a Teaching Hospital, double road from Takoradi to Sekondi. We are building the interchange, the GNPC headquarters. okay….we are investing in hospitals, we are building a new market circle”, he added.

Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah further described the demonstration as a “Monkey-Kaakro-demonstration” and accused the demonstrators of being ungrateful for the work being carried out in the metropolis, asserting that, “there’s nothing wrong with Takoradi, and everyone knows it. So this is not issue…it’s a Monkey-Kaakro-Demonstration.”