THE VIDEO which is being intercepted by Soireenews.com clearly shows how traditional rulers and residents living in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region have expressed anger over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's failure to complete and enrol students into the Community Day Senior High School (SHS) popularly known as E-block project situated at Apesua in the Yilo Krobo municipality.
In the widely circulated video on social media platforms, the visibly aggrieved traditional rulers stated that they couldn't fathom why the Yilo Krobo E-Block project which was started by former President John Dramani Mahama to serve as a second-cycle education in the area has unfortunately been abandoned by the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of President Akufo-Addo.
They pointed out that the E-block which was completed and commissioned has been totally neglected and turned into a bush, the situation which has informed the decision of the allodial owners of Apesua land, the area for which the project was built to state that they need their land back and called on President Akufo-Addo led NPP government to come and carry Mahama’s e-Block away if it would not open it for the enrollment of the students.
They indicated that the school is one of the many E-block projects yet to be finished and put to use by the government.
They complained bitterly that weeds have taken over a major portion of the facility, adding that years of neglect of the project had led to the roof falling apart.
They mentioned that the doors and windows of the building have been damaged and the structure has started developing cracks due to neglect on the part of the current government over a long period of years after it has been commissioned and handed over to the state..
"We are saying that the Community Day Senior High School at built at Apesua in Yilo Krobo is still in the bush rotting. God have mercy. The tax payers money is left to rot. The students for whose the facility was built for them to use for learning are not using the facility which was abandoned in the bush.
"Now hundreds of reptiles, rats, cats, pigs, goats, domestic sheep, weeds and fowls have taken over the facility as their classrooms.
"It took as a big surprise that the rodents, reptiles and birds are now schooling in the facility.We would not tolerate waste of funds of the abandoned E-block project in our area. I am not happy about the way and manner the current government under President Akufo-Adfo government is delaying to let the students to use occupy the facility. I have performed all the necessary traditional libation for the cutting of the sod for the starting and commissioning of this very Community Day Senior High School at Apesua in Yilo Krobo.
"I am saying that this year l want the central government to come and open the school to enrol students into the Community Day Senior High School at Apesua in Yilo Krobo. This year if the central government fails to comply with our directive to come and open the school to be operationalized, l am not going to agree with the government.
"If the government would not come to open the school this year, l am saying that the government should come to take out the E-block project and give me my land because the state has not even paid me for the land," the Chief of Apesua in the Yilo Krobo, Nene Bawa Tetteh who is the allodial owner of land angrily said in the video.
"I am begging you, my eyes are red over the matter, although l cannot speak the Twi dialect very well to express my anger over the delay of the government to open the school for the operation, but l am saying that l am getting fed up with government and l don't want the rodents to go to the school in my land, and that l want the human beings to use the facility," Nene Bawa Tetteh further stressed.
Ina fact finding mission to the area, Nene Bawa Tetteh on behalf of the residents expressed anger at government’s refusal to operate the community Day Senior High School in his community for past five (5) years after its commissioning.
The chief reiterated that rodents have since taken over the facility; calling on the current government to, as a matter of urgency operationalise the block or come for it because he would need the land for other important community development project.
“I am not happy with what is happening to this facility. I was part of the sod cutting for this project because of the interest of my people of Apesua and so I don’t understand why this government has not opened the school,” he told Soireenews.com.
“Rodents have taken over the facility. I want the government to open the school this year otherwise they will have to come and carry the building away and let me use the land for other things,” the chief angrily said.
He also lamented the poor state of road leading to the facility adding that the school has now become a grazing field for livestock.
The chief emphasized that the delay in the using the facility is affecting the education of students in the area, who are being deprived of the opportunity to attend school due to the lack of a suitable learning environment.
“The SHS should have been added to the schools enrolling first-year students for this academic year but, since former president John Dramani Mahama left office after initiating the project, the project has been abandoned. We pleaded with the current government to make it a boarding school for us due to the distance between the school and the town, to which President Akuffo Addo agreed."
"The school has now turned grazing field for sheep and goats, so we are pleading with the Education Minister and President Akufo-Addo to come to our aid to enroll students into the the facility.”
The chief has however issued a four-month ultimatum to the government to complete the project or face their wrath.
“We the traditional rulers earlier halted a planned demonstration that residents had earlier wanted to embark on, but we are giving the government just four months to do something about the project, or else we will embark on the demonstration,” they stressed.
"We are going to take this up. It is clear that the project has been abandoned. We will not allow waste of funds," the chief stated.