Fantes in Kumasi Face Taunts

NDC supporters mock: They are concert people Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the minister of tourism and modernization of the capital city at a press conference held in Accra to throw light on the party's position on the elections yesterday, thanked supporters of the party and Ghanaians as a whole, especially the people of the central region for giving them a sweet victory in this year's elections.

Minister Lamptey said the voting pattern had improved significantly for the New Patriotic Party especially in the central region and commended the people of the central for that performance.

He thanked candidates George Aggudey of the Convention People's Party and Edward Mahama of the Grand Coalition also for conceding defeat.

Meanwhile, sections of the Fante community in Kumasi yesterday reported widespread incidence of taunting by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters who mock them for voting 'foolishly' against the party's flagbearer who is a Fante.

Reports from Oforikrom, Awonaga and Aboabo all in Kumasi indicate that Fantes have come under verbal attacks from some supporters of the NDC who are mainly Ewes and people of Northern descent for the way Fantes voted against the NDC in the just ended presidential and parliamentary elections in the Central Region.

These aggrieved supporters, on identifying Fantes, rain insults on them, claiming they voted for Atta Mills, so could not understandable that his own people voted otherwise.

Talking to Mr. Kofi Bosompim, who is a Fante domiciled in Kumasi, The Chronicle learnt that this state of affairs started two days ago when the Central Region polling result swung heavily in favour of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Narrating one of the incidents, he said one NDC supporter told him that, "Fantes are concert people and foolish for not voting for their own" and that they should go and perform at the national theatre that the NDC had built for them.

He continued that somebody followed him with insults but "I did not mind him because I feared for my dear life." He said the insults were so severe that he had wanted to respond but restrained himself out of prudence.

However, according to him, a Fante man who could not bear the insults had a fight with one of the supporters.

The central region voted massively for the NPP in both the presidential and parliamentary elections. Political analysts have therefore described the central region as the 'waterloo' of the NDC as Prof Atta Mills who hails from the region won in only a few constituencies which included the Mfantsiman East and Twifo/Ati Morkwa constituencies.

One of the strongest NDC representatives in parliament, Ama Benyiwa Doe lost convincingly to the ruling NPP. Some NDC supporters do not understand why their presidential candidate should lose the region he hailed from and have started questioning the loyalty of Fantes for a fellow Fanteman.

Another school of thought however summed it up that Fantes are not as tribal-minded as some other tribes and do not consider ethnicity as the basis for voting for one particular party more important than what a party has to offer them.