MP Blocks Opening Of 4-Unit Classroom Block

Tongues are wagging at Aferi, a farming community in Bodi Constituency of the Western region, over what the people in the area have described as �complete abuse of power.� The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bodi, Hon. Sampson Ahi, has been accused of using his status to prevent the district chief executive, chiefs, opinion leaders and stakeholders from commissioning a four-unit classroom block at Aferi without any reason. According to reliable sources in Aferi Traditional Area, majority of the chiefs and opinion leaders in Aferi and its adjoining communities are dissatisfied with the MP for his alleged interference in the commissioning of the said classroom block and other development projects. However, when Today reached Mr. Ahi via phone for comments, he said: �Massa� I am busy� later.� And when the paper contacted him again via phone he said he was in Kumasi. The four-unit classroom block, Today was reliably informed, was funded and constructed by a resident of Aferi, one Mr. Owusu Ansah, in March 9, 2013 to improve teaching and learning in the area. But interestingly Today in the course of its findings stumbled on a number of documents in which the under fire MP purportedly used his position and influence to stop series of social and infrastructural development projects by the citizenry of Bodi including the said four-unit classroom block which is currently being left to rot away. The intention of Mr. Ahi, who doubles as the deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, to stop development projects by some citizens of the area, Today gathered, stemmed from the reason that such individuals have intentions to contest him in the parliamentary elections in 2016. And that situation has generated intense tension which if immediate actions are not taken by the central government would degenerate into a bloody clash. According to the townsfolk, the current school block being used by pupils and teachers in the area was in a bad state. That situation, the residents stated, moved Mr. Owusu Ansah who voluntarily agreed to put up a new edifice to enhance quality of learning in the area. Till date, the facility has been abandoned by the district education office (DEO) and the district assembly (DA). Mr. Ahi is also said to have warned the district chief executive and the director of the DEO against moving the pupils and teachers into the new facility. Following that caveat and its attendant effects, the DCE, chiefs in the area, and the director of DEO did not show up at a ceremony to officially commission the facility. However, Mr. Ansah was said to have commissioned the facility with the support of a director of a DEO in another town. Some residents who spoke to Today said Hon. Ahi told them that Mr. Owusu Ansah has intentions of contesting the seat of MP for the area hence his benevolence. The residents went on to say that the deputy minister even threatened to transfer any officer who went contrary to his caveat. And by that development the people in the town have abandoned the school block and are still using the old classroom block which might collapse soon. When Today contacted Mr. Owusu Ansah on whether he would use the facility for another purpose, he stated that his actions were for the betterment of the area where he hails from and therefore will not touch the building but will leave it till the people are ready to use it.