Cape Coast Stadium Not Priority - Benyiwa Doe

THE CENTRAL Regional Minister, Comfort Ama Benyiwa Doe, has confessed that the sports stadium expected to be built for residents in the region is no longer a priority for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration. According to her, the construction of the sports stadium was not on the agenda of the NDC but rather the New Patriotic Party�s which promised to build the stadium in Cape Coast. �Let me tell you, I have said this time and time again at different functions that the Cape Coast Sports Stadium is not on the agenda of the NDC. We did not promise you a sports stadium. It was the NPP which promised it. We only decided to see if we could build it as Prof. Mills has assured you. Therefore, we hope that by the end of Prof. Mills� term as president, it would be built,� she stated. She made the confession when she was answering a question posed to her by a journalist last week at the regional Meet-The-Press series in Cape Coast to inform journalists on how the NDC government was performing in the region. Madam Doe�s answer shocked most journalists as they wondered why she could make such a statement. It will be recalled that at the just-ended Oguaa Fetu Afahye celebrated by the chiefs and people of Cape Coast, the regional minister emphatically stated that there was no date slated for the construction of the stadium. �Though all the necessary arrangements have been procured, there is no date for construction to commence on the Cape Coast Stadium. We ask you to exercise patience for us so that we can fulfil all our promises,� she had said. DAILY GUIDE learnt that President Mills, who gave an extempore speech at the festival grounds, also stated that the NDC would expand the stadium�s sitting capacity when it was built. Madam Doe has been battling the New Patriotic Party (NPP) including the former Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, on the issue of the stadium, accusing him of not awarding the stadium on contract before leaving office and not making funds available for the construction. This compelled Nana Ato Arthur and some NPP gurus in the region to hold a press conference during which copies of the contract agreement were distributed to the media.