Come and fulfil your election 2016 university promise to us — Mim Chiefs, people remind Akufo-Addo

The Chiefs and people of Mim, a prominent town in the Asunafo North Municipality of the Ahafo Region at the weekend reminded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to fulfil his Election 2016 campaign promise to set up a university in the area.

They also demanded the President to fulfil another campaign promise of creating a separate district in the area too.

In a show of unity and solidarity, the chiefs and people of the area came together for a mass communal labour exercise at the site of a building complex donated by the Mim Traditional Council to establish the ‘Ahafo University of Engineering and Applied Science’.

Comprising religious bodies, artisanal groups, businessmen, market women, and various political parties the communal labour was aimed at emphasizing the community's demand for a separate district and the University.

Nana Yaw Bofah II, the Ankobeahene (sub-chief) of the Mim Traditional Area who led the exercise on behalf of Okofrobuo Nana Dr. Yaw Agyei II, the Paramount Chief of Mim, acknowledged the NPP government's contributions to the socio-economic development of the town.

However, he highlighted that the community's two most important demands, a separate district and a university, as assured by the President in 2016 remain unfulfilled.

In a brief background, Nana Bofah told the media that President Akufo-Addo gave the promise for the separate district and the university in 2016 and reaffirmed it after the creation of the Ahafo Region in 2019.

“The president gave reassurance for the Mim district when Okofrobuo Nana Dr. Yaw Agyei II called on him at Jubilee House earlier this year”, Nana Bofah stated, expressing the community's trust and urged the President to expedite action for the creation of the new district.

Nana Bofah said Mim meets every criterion for a District, noting that the town remained the most populous in the Ahafo region with several industries and a large market, thereby, making it an economic hub.

"The Mim paramountcy is the largest in the region in terms of population and landmark," he added and called on President Akufo-Addo to make Mim district a reality to catalyze development in the area.

Nana Bofah chronicled the community's quest for a University, which began with Mim being designated a satellite campus in the Act establishing the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).

“In 2016, the Chiefs released land to the government for the establishment of the Mim satellite campus. However, after the creation of the Ahafo region in 2019, the President promised a full-fledged university in Mim for the Ahafo region”, he stated.

Nana Bofah explained that officials of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) recently visited Mim to inspect the building complex donated by the chiefs for the start of the University.

He, however, expressed disappointment that even though GTEC was satisfied with the building and other facilities, after several months, no action had been taken on the facilities for the establishment of the University.

Nana Bofah emphasised that Mim had the necessary socio-economic infrastructure to host a university, citing major industries and tourist attraction sites, and pleaded with the President to redeem the promise, worrying that “Mim is the only major town in Ahafo region without a tertiary institution”.

Alhaji Issah Mohammed, a timber merchant, and the Chairman of the Mim Development Foundation, an organisation set up to push the holistic development of the town, assured the foundation's readiness to provide several units of unoccupied bungalows and apartments as free accommodation for the government if the district was carved.

He urged the government to reciprocate Mim's political support for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by granting the people the District and the University, as promised.

Parliamentary candidates of the various political parties and assembly members as well as political party activists who joined the exercise spoke to the media and urged President Akufo-Addo to fulfil his promise to maintain the confidence of the people in him.