Nkrumah’s Ghc400,000 project rots

Nine long months after the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) promised to make the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park more viable to enable residents reconnect with the African of the Century; the monument is still left to rot.

The project, valued at Ghc400, 000.00 which was initiated under the administration of Former Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Robert Kempes Ofosuware, in 2012, to acknowledge Dr Kwame Nkrumah's vision for building Tema as the first well planned city in West Africa, has been turned into a makeshift stable for horses by jockeys.

The overgrown weeds that have engulfed the site provide enough hay for stray horses, which, like their owners, have unrestricted access to the place.

What is appalling is the dung that is indiscriminately left behind by the animals.

“It serves as manure for the grass. Initially, the grass looked brownish and yellow until the horses started easing themselves here,” Kofi Agbo, a jockey, defended his actions in an interview with the paper when quizzed.

The Nkrumah Park project, which looked abandoned, is located near the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), with a veiled statue of the first president at the park.

Many concerned residents were expecting that the authorities would commission the Nkrumah statue and other ones at the park during the just-ended Founder’s Day, but it is still covered with black polythene.

Facilities that are expected to be located at the park include a resource centre, a fountain, library, restaurant and arrangement for relaxation. Checks by the DAILY HERITAGE indicate that none of these has been put in place.

The TMA's Public Relations Officer, Frank Asante, reportedly told newsmen nine months ago that "the memorial park concept is bright" stressing that "we have not abandoned it."

He added that the TMA has only returned to the drawing board to brainstorm and find ways to make the project more viable.

He stated that the Assembly was determined to build and rehabilitate existing parks in the Metropolis, including the children's park.

The PRO indicated that plans were advanced to improve the status of the children's park, which has become a pale shadow of its initial state.

It is a far cry from what the assembly’s spokesman told the press, the paper can confidently report.