Alfred Adam
27 August 2008
Takoradi — THE protest over market stores being built on a storm drain at Chapel Hill, a suburb of Takoradi in the Western Region, by Mrs. Gladys Asmah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Takoradi, has once again been raised, this time at the chambers of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA).
Experts have described Asmah's project as technically wrong, on the grounds that it was sitting on a storm drain, and likely to block the flow of water.
The controversy surrounding the MP's project came about, when Assembly members of the STMA met to deliberate on issues confronting the Assembly.
Information reaching The Chronicle indicated that when the Assembly meeting began, at exactly 10:00 a.m., with the reading of the minutes of the previous meeting, the Assembly Member for Chapel Hill, Mr. Wilson Kwofie, was the first to draw blood.
Mr. Kwofie, whose electoral area was affected by the MP's project, reportedly expressed worry and concern over the location of the project, describing it as very bad.
According to the assembly member, the project being undertaken by the MP, who is also the Minister for Fisheries, was having a negative impact on residents of Chapel Hill, whenever it rained.
He, therefore, solicited support from members of the assembly, to help in advocating for a relocation of the Minister's project.
Mr. Kwofie argued that the Urban Environmental and Sanitation Project (UESP) had acquired funds from the World Bank, to expand the very drain the minister had put the stores on.
The Assembly Member also doubted whether the Minister was issued with a permit to build on the drain, noting that he was certain the Assembly would not issue a permit for someone to build at an unauthorised place.
As a result, he called for investigations to ascertain whether or not the Minister had a permit to undertake her project. The Chronicle learnt that the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, cut in to demand whether the Assembly Member (Wilson Kwofie) had any knowledge in building construction, to arrive at the conclusion that the Minister's project had been sited at a wrong place.
Mr. Kwesi Nkrumah, who reportedly defended the location of the Minister's project, cited a number of instances where projects were sited on storm drains, but had not affected the people living around the area.
The MCE invited to the meeting, the Technical Head of the UESP, Mr. Addo Larbi, who also defended him (Kwesi Nkrumah) in respect of the fact that the Minister's project was properly sited.
Interestingly, in the March 17, 2008 edition of The Chronicle, when the paper broke the story, Mr. Addo Larbi failed to comment on the location of the project at the time this reporter was investigating the story.
He had told this paper in an interview that "this is a political issue, and I don't want to get myself involved. The Assembly Member of Chapel Hill wants to put me in trouble, so go and talk to him."
When the Assembly Member, Mr. Wilson Kwofie, was contacted to comment on the story, he failed saying, "go and speak to Kwesi Nkrumah, why he vetoed the subject matter when it had not been exhausted."
Attempts to speak to the MCE also proved futile, as his cell phone was switched off.
A Broadcast Journalist, who covered the Assembly meeting, also confirmed to this reporter that there was a clash between Mr. Kwesi Nkrumah, the MCE, and the Assembly Member over the issue of the Minister's building project.
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