Chiefs, NDC Members Angry

The chiefs and people of Agona Duakwa in the Agona East District of the Central Region are very angry with the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr for attempting to relocate the President’s Community Senior High School to a remote village after the Agona East Disitrct Assembly voted for the project to be sited in town.

The chiefs and people of the town, including some National Democratic Congress (NDC) members at Agona Duakwa, Agona Nsaba, Mensakrom, Mankrong and Agona Duoto and environs, have vowed to vote against the MP if she relocates the Senior High School (SHS) project to Namanwora, a small village under Agona Duakwa.

The chiefs and people of Agona Duakwa, as well as NDC faithful in the above-mentioned towns, said it makes no sense for a community senior high school to be sited in a remote village instead of Agona Duakwa, which is accessible to residents in small towns like Mensakrom, Jacob, Mankrong, Duoto, Akokoasa, Otabil and others.

The MP used her influence as the Deputy Central Regional Minister to block a sod-cutting ceremony by the district assembly on July 22 to start the project sparking series of demonstrations by residents of Agona Duakwa, who believe the MP’s decision is not only a slight on the people of Duakwa but a political decision to punish the people of Agona Duakwa because the chiefs and elders of the town had consistently accused her of being arrogant and disrespectful to them.

An NDC activist and cadre, who lives at Agona Duakwa, Emmanuel Kojo Amoakwah, told DAILY GUIDE that it will be politically suicidal for the MP to disregard Agona Duakwa because all the inhabitants of major towns such as Agona Nsaba, Mensakrom, Agona Kwanyako, Agona Mankrong and Agona Asafo support the execution of the project at Agona Duakwa.

“Nsaba has a secondary school, Kwanyako also has a secondary school and Asafo also has a secondary school so automatically Duakwa should be the next major town to have a secondary school to serve the other towns and villages around it,” Emmanuel Kojo Amoakwah popularly called Teacher Kojo told this paper, pointing out that many of the peeved residents will definitely vote against the NDC if the MP takes that decision.

The NDC activist told DAILY GUIDE that an NGO built a vocational school at Namanwora but the school collapsed due to lack of patronage by inhabitants, noting that most of the school-going children at Namanwora attend basic schools at Agona Duakwa, which is about four kilometres away even though there is basic school at Namanwora.
“I am not a prophet of doom but I can bet all my money on this and say that if this community school is sited at Namanwora, it will be another white elephant and a complete waste of public money,” he indicated.

The chief of Agona Duakwa, Nana Kojo Amuakwa V, also told DAILY GUIDE that the chiefs and elders had released a 12-acre land close to the main Swedru-Oda road for the project, adding that he was completely appalled by the attitude of the MP to relocate the project.

Namanwora, he said, is a settler community under his jurisdiction.

“Maybe the MP does not know that Namanwora is a village under me and that nobody has told me of any intention to site a secondary school there,” he said, noting that he would not release any land at Namanwora for the school due to the MP’s attempt to disrespect the chiefs and people of Agona Duakwa.

Source: Thomas Fosu Jnr/Daily Guide