The paramount chief of the Aflao traditional area, Torgbui Amenya Fiti has handed the government a four-month ultimatum to operationalize the E-block high school facility in the area.
The GH¢9 million project, started under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, has 26 classrooms, five departments, and a science block.
Torgbui Amenya Fiti, who was speaking during a courtesy call by members of the Minority on the Education Committee, said the government’s approach to education was appalling.
“The next place for revenue generation after the Tema Harbour is the Aflao border. So I had to push former President, John Mahama to put up that structure. I had to be running from here to Accra, begging. Should we be begging for education? If we have to beg for education before people can go to school, then I don’t know what we call democracy at all. Look at the structure, it’s almost 90 percent complete. The thieves are having a field day, going in there to have everything removed at will.”
“The NPP government now has free SHS education, but my people are not benefitting because there is no school here. So I am giving the Education Minister up till February [2022] for the school to be completed,” the chief added.
Minister to be dragged to Parliament
Members of the Minority caucus on the Education Committee of Parliament had resolved to haul the Minister of Education back to the floor of the House to answer critical questions on the state of uncompleted E-blocks started by the Mahama administration.
The Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, had, in an earlier response to questions in Parliament, indicated that 46 out of the 200 facilities had been completed fully.
However, addressing the media after a tour of one of the uncompleted e- blocks in Go in the Sege Constituency of the Greater Accra Region, Ranking Member on the Education Committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe stressed the need for an urgent update on the projects from the Minister.
“If we want our children to have access to quality education, these projects must be completed so that students in these areas can have access. I will fault the Minister because he says the projects have not been abandoned, so why do we see this one here.”
“Five years down the line, nothing has been done to this project. It is still on the first floor, so he is not being truthful to Ghanaians. We will bring the Minister back to the floor of Parliament. We have initiated that process. When Parliament resumes, this is going to be part of the issues we are going to consider as far as Education is concerned”, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe decried.
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Sege, Christian Otuteye, is disappointed that work has stalled on the project for over five years.
“We have only one SHS here in the jurisdiction. We spoke to the Mahama government, and they saw the need to put up one here to ease the burden here. Since 2016, it started well with good hope for the people. But in five years, what has been added is negligible. What will make something that was started on a good note still be on the first floor after five years? Not only me but my constituents are disappointed.”