The Paramount Chief of Lower Dixcove, Nana Akwasi Agyeman IV, has refuted claims by the former Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, that chiefs of the Western Region donated the controversial Akufo-Addo Statue mounted in front of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in Sekondi after the former President’s thank you tour of the region in November 2024.
Speaking to a Takoradi-based radio station, the Lower Dixcove Paramount Chief, who was seen jointly unveiling the statue with the former President, said he did not know anything about the statue but was ambushed by the former Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, after the thank you tour to join them to present a gift to the President.
“Frankly, I promised not to comment on the statue issue because of the widespread insult we Chiefs have suffered. I, Nana Akwasi Agyeman, can confirm that the statue was not done by the Chiefs of the Western Region. It is never true. No Chief contributed a Pesewa towards its construction. If any chief contributed towards it, I’m yet to know.
“The second fact is that the Chiefs never met as House of Chiefs to discuss a donation of a statue to honour the then President Nana Akufo Addo. I’m someone who attends almost every House of Chiefs meeting and so would have known it, but it was never discussed,” he denied.
Nana Akwasi Agyeman further explained how Mensah caught him unaware to front the Akufo-Addo’s Takoradi Statue on behalf of the chiefs.
“We only received an invitation to attend the former President’s Thank You Tour, and so we met him at the GNAT Hall. It was there that Okyere Darko Mensah sent someone to inform me that he would like us to join them to present a gift of appreciation to the then President and so we will all go to Effia Nkwanta Hospital. It was upon arriving there that I got to know that it was a statue. I didn’t even know it was a statue. I was not the only Paramount Chief who went there. In fact, we were about seven.
“Again, it was there that I was told I would help the President to unveil the statue, hence they gave me a chair close to the former President to sit on. Honestly, I initially didn’t want to do it but I was worried about creating a scene and so I kept quiet. We went ahead to unveil it and I was asked to say something in honour of the President. I remembered the President paid me a visit at the Hospital when I was attacked in 2019 and therefore I thanked him on my behalf and not on behalf of the Chiefs of the Western Region,” he explained.
Former President Akufo-Addo’s controversial statue has since Monday, January 13, 2025, been totally destroyed by unknown persons following public outcry that his statue was an insult to the plight of the Western Region for his insignificant contribution to the development of the region.
