Construction work on a community centre project meant to serve as conference hall and training centre for residents of Siwido Compound in Cape Coast and its environs has been abandoned for the past six years.
The two- storey building project, started by former Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast, Ms. Christine Churcher in 2000 with MP�s Common fund, has now become a den for Indian hemp smokers and sexual escapades particularly at night.
Before Ms. Churcher left office in 2008, work left for the ground floor was plastering, fixing of doors and windows and electrical installation to complete it and the first floor was at its lintel stage.
Work on the project was taken over about a year and half ago by a Church that plastered both the interior and exterior of the ground floor and fixed some doors but since the church relocated, the building has not seen any facelift.
Occasionally, community cooperative and welfare groups, cultural dance troupes and other organised groups or individuals also use the premises for meetings, rehearsals, accommodation for funeral sympathizers, engagement or any other purpose without paying rent to anyone.
The Assemblyman of the Area, Wofa Yaw, in an interview with the GNA said when he was voted into office in 2012, he consulted Mr. Ebo Barton-Oduro, who succeeded Ms. Churcher as the MP as well as Mr. Egyir Aikins the then Cape Coast Metropolitan Chief Executive on the fate of the project, during which it became evident that the continuation of the project was not in their short term plans.
He said his search for a non-governmental organization to complete the project to serve the purpose it was meant for led him to the leaders of the church, Destiny Life Chapel, who agreed to continue the project and use it for five years.
Wofa Yaw said as part of the plan, which was endorsed by the Metropolitan Assembly, the church would use the conference hall for their activities on Fridays and Sundays while the community would use it for dress making, hair dressing or any other vocational training during the rest of the days.
But ownership of the project led to agitation by some members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) with a section of them destroying the doors that were fixed by the church.
The political tension, according to the Assembly man, forced the church to relocate, dashing the collective dream of having a community centre.
Yofa Yaw said rent cannot be taken from anyone who desired to use the premises because of the disputes and that patrons of the place were only required to keep the place tidy after their programme.
On the issue of indecent activities taking place in the building especially at night, he said because there were no doors and windows, coupled with the political tension associated with the project, efforts to avert the situation was always unsuccessful.
He said it was the desire of the community to have the project completed since vocational training centre would help the teeming number of school dropouts in the community to be trained for them to be self-employed and therefore appealed for support to complete it.
The Public Relations Officer of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Mr. Nicholas Addo, gave the assurance that the project was among a list of uncompleted projects the assembly had plans to complete and in due time work would resume.
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