A huge facility built for the purpose of the teaching and learning of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the Kasena-Nankana Municipal Assembly of the Upper East region, has been locked up and left to rot.
Started in 2010 and completed in 2014 under the Mills–Mahama administration by the Ministry of Communications with support from the Municipal Assembly, the massive infrastructure which sits in the Gongnia community – some 800km drive from the capital Accra – has been locked up and abandoned by authorities after it was briefly used to keep and distribute laptops under the Better Ghana Agenda project.
Initially put up to offer tuition on the subject to students from senior high schools, colleges and the Navrongo campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS), the abandoned facility now plays host to reptiles of all kinds and has been taken over by filth and weeds.
Pupils and students who are supposed to make use of the huge facility to catch up with the rest of the world in the IT revolution now look on helplessly at the facility which was put up with tax payers’ cash.
A visit to the facility, which is directly in front of the Adabayeri Primary School, shows the furniture and tiled floors covered in thick dust, a confirmation that the facility has not been opened for use after its completion.
Students and residents are not happy with authorities for allowing such a huge investment waste away. They say the facility will greatly help improve understanding of the subject and performance of students in that field of study if the centre is resourced and made operational.
They therefore appealed to authorities to quicken their efforts in making the facility ready for use.
Municipal Chief Executive, Williams Aduum, who confirmed the condition of the facility, described it as unfortunate. According to him, several efforts have been made to get the facility operational since he came into office, but none have been successful.
Mr. Aduum revealed that he has made all the necessary contacts to get the facility up and running but the contractor who has not handed it over due to payment infractions is not cooperating with the assembly.
“Another issue too has to do with how the contractor has failed to hand over the facility to the assembly. He hasn’t handed over and no commissioning has been done. But when I came into office, I looked for him and reached out to him and we discussed the issue. But now, when i call him to come over for some talks on it, which I have done severally, he won’t come”.
Mr. Aduum who sounded frustrated by the abandoned facility however assured that the assembly will work hard to make it operational to serve students in the area.
He noted that the putting into use of the facility is a top priority of the assembly.
By Senyalah Castro, Daily Mail GH
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