The Konor (Paramount Chief) of the Manya-Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite II, has expressed grave concern over the inability of the Lower Manya-Krobo Municipal Assembly to make funds available for development projects in the area.
According to the Chief, the leadership of the Assembly has always been giving excuses that there are no funds available to undertake development projects in the traditional area, a situation he cannot comprehend.
Nene Sakite II expressed the concern in his address during the grand durbar to climax this year’s annual festival of the chiefs and people of Manya-Krobo at the Oklemekuku Memorial Park, Laasi, at Odumase-Krobo.
The soft-spoken Konor said the Municipal Assembly is even refusing to make funds available to prepare a site plan for a piece of land acquired for the construction of a new College of Community Health Nurse’s Training School in Odumase-Krobo.
“My problem now is that the Assembly is not cooperating with us to provide funds to prepare a site plan for the acquired land for the school, so everything is at a standstill. I have cautioned the MCE about our feelings, in the presence of the Eastern Region Deputy Minister, hoping that things would improve, but nothing has changed so far,” he explained.
The angry Chief, who has vowed to meet President John Dramani Mahama to get him to intervene in the matter, said if nothing is done about the situation, the Manya-Krobo Traditional Council would start auditing the accounts of the Assembly, to establish whether there is money or not.
”This sentiment was demonstrated in our last Traditional Council meeting, which concluded that if there is always no funds available for our development needs, as we are always told, then the Traditional Council will immediately start auditing the books of the Assembly quarterly, to determine where the problem is,” the Konor emphasised.
He continued: “Something must be done about it, because the new Nursing Training School is temporarily located at the Community Centre. We do not want it to be there for too long.”
Nene Sakite II also appealed to President Mahama to ensure that the Manya Krobo Football Stadium Complex, which was started during the late General Kutu Acheampong’s regime, be completed, since it has kept too long.
He also called for expedited action to complete the abandoned Oborpah Community Day Senior High School, since, according to him, “It is among the first fifty schools to be started, yet we are still waiting for the day it would be completed for commissioning.”
On the bridge at Oterkpolu, he indicated that it was constructed in 1925 (91 years ago) by the colonial government, and has remained a death trap, since it has not seen any repair or maintenance works for a very long time.
The Konor warned that he would close down the bridge, which serves a very important purpose by linking Upper Manya-Krobo and Lower Manya-Krobo to Koforidua, to save lives, until something was done about it.
”I went there last week on a fact finding mission, and felt so threatened. If that bridge is not dealt with the urgency it deserves, I will have to close it down to save lives until something is done about it, because it is unsafe,” he warned.
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