The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the party is partly to blame for the seeming hostile attitude by residents of the Volta Region towards the NPP. Nana Akufo-Addo said the posture and attitude by some party officials have largely contributed to the dwindling fortunes of the NPP in the Volta Region. The flagbearer was speaking during a meeting with the Volta Region House of Chiefs on Friday. The meeting comes at a time when relationship between the NPP and residents of Volta Region have further been strained following the ethnocentric comments made by the NPP Member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Agyapong. One of the Chiefs in an angry reaction to the comments by Agyapong said the people in the Volta Region will start no war or throw cudgels, machetes but will live to read the obituaries of their enemies. But Nana Addo told Volta Regional House of Chiefs: “I want to state here with all the emphasis at my command that I have no ethnic agenda or condone any such agenda.” He said he supported the decision by the party to dissociate itself from the comments made by the Assin North MP. He would not comment on the details of the statements, preferring rather to have the courts deal with the matter. Nana Addo however admitted his party has not done enough to mend the strained relationship between the NPP and people from the Volta Region. He said beyond the programmes of the NPP for equitable development across all regions in the country, the party has failed to communicate well with the people in the Volta Region. A journalist who was present during the meeting told Joy News the chiefs appeared impressed with the frank discussion with Nana Addo. According to him, the chiefs asked series of questions with one asking Nana Addo’s personal opinion on the controversial comment made by Kennedy Agyapong. The journalist reported Nana Addo as saying he would not support any ethnocentric comment by any member of his party and backed the court to continue with its job of prosecuting the case. The NPP Campaign manager, Boakye Agyarko described the meeting as fruitful, explaining it was to lay before the House of Chiefs the vision of the NPP for the country and for the region. Agyarko said the people of Volta Region, like all others, will be looking for progress and opportunities to make life better for themselves and their families and that will play a major role in choosing which party to vote for. A Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampoh applauded the move by Nana Addo to dissociate himself from the comments of the MP and to take steps to patch strained relationship with the Volta Region House of Chiefs. He was however skeptical the move would change the voting patterns of the people in the Volta Region. If anything, it will rather convince floating voters,” he said.