Director of Communications for the ruling NDC in the Central Region, Ben Allotey Jacobs, says it will be in the best interest of the nation if Ghanaians vote to keep the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in opposition.
Mr. Allotey Jacobs avers that since the NPP are masters at finding faults and never impressed with anything government does, their usefulness will be better served in opposition.
He was commenting on reports that a leading member of the NPP had scoffed at the President’s sod-cutting for the construction two Universities in the Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions, describing it as unnecessary.
According to the “Informer” newspaper, Deputy Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Lawra/Nandom of Parliament at a recent meeting with members of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) at the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) said it was a grievous mistake for President Mills to have selected the two regions as beneficiaries of the project. He suggested that government should have rather re-channeled the resources for the two universities into expanding the infrastructural base of the UDS which he claimed, is in dire straits.
“We want the Upper West and the Upper East which already have branches or faculties or departments of UDS to be developed into full blown universities…This whole business of the NDC government leaving uncompleted jobs to start new ones does not make sense,” Mr. Dery said.
But contributing to a panel discussion on PeaceFM’s “Kokrokoo”, Mr. Allotey Jacobs lampooned the NPP MP for his “inappropriate” remarks but said he was not surprised by Hon. Dery’s statement since that seems to be the stock in trade of the NPP; constant criticisms.
“I believe that we should congratulate the president. How can Ambrose Dery say it is not important to have a university in the Volta and Brong Ahafo Region, but rather the funds should be used to upgrade the University of Development Studies (UDS)? Does it mean that the Voltarians do not need a University?” he quizzed.
Mr. Allotey Jacobs, who was hopeful that the president’s sod-cutting will not be in vain, and that the construction and completion of the two Universities will result in about a 1000 people including professors, being employed.
But the Vice President of the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA-Int), Ursula Owusu, a co-panelist on the show, pointed out that “hitting the ground with a pickaxe does not mean the completion of a project” cautioning that the euphoria surrounding the ground-breaking event could be short-lived.
Her reason; president Mills did a sod-cutting exercise with regards to the “Dansoman road and up till now the project has since not been completed”.