Ablakwa Appeals to Mahama: Have Mercy On Alfred Oko Vanderpuije

Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency in the Volta Region, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has pleaded with Presidency to “have mercy” on the Accra metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Chief Executive, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije for embarking on a renaming spree and taking decisions beyond his reach.

According to him, though passage of time has not healed the wounds that the untimely death of President John Evans Atta Mills inflicted on Ghanaians, the Presidency should factor in the solemn week Ghanaians are in and not take any drastic action against the AMA boss.

“…The Majority Leader said something in Parliament which I have been pondering about. He said that for many people when they die, a year after, the pain subsides but for Prof. Mills, it is like the more the weeks and months passes, the more the grief and the pain because of how good the man was.

“And how even more exceptional he was. And I think that all of that should be factored in, in having some mercy on the AMA chief Executive and his Assembly as he appears at the Presidency,” the former deputy Information Minister pleaded.

Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa, who doubles as a deputy Minister of Education made this supplication after government asked the AMA to rescind its decision to name the National Hockey Pitch after late President John Evans Atta Mills and further summoned the Mayor to the seat of government.

The AMA has come under serious criticism after the assembly decided to change the name of the National Hockey Pitch from “Theodosia Okoh National Hockey Pitch” to “John Evans Atta Mills National Hockey Stadium”.

According to the AMA Boss, the assembly decided to change the name to honour the memory of the late Professor and to show appreciation for his contribution towards the sport in the country.

However, the MP for North Tongu Constituency believes that, renaming of the hockey stadium after the late President was unnecessary because there are a lot of edifices already named after the late president Mills.

He further opined that, “Madam Theodosia Okoh deserves the name” because of her singular effort to get the pitch started despite the fact that in later years, President Mills came in to support by giving it an international status.