New Office For Ga East

A GROUND breaking ceremony has been held at Abokobi near Madina, a suburb of Accra, for the construction of an ultra-modern office valued at ¢6.4 billion (GH¢640,000) for the Ga East District Assembly.

The office, which would take about 14 months to complete, is being undertaken by Teriwhite Ltd, and it is expected to house all departments under the assembly.

The ceremony was performed by Sheikh I.C Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister; Kofi Allotey, Ga East District Chief Executive (DCE); Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, Chairman of the Ga Presbytery; and Nii Adjetey Mohenu II, Abokobi Mantse.

The district assembly acquired the 40 plots of land at the cost of ¢400 million (GH¢40,000) from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, which owns the vast land that make the Abokobi township.

Sheikh Quaye said the construction of the office complex was in fulfillment of a pledge he made on behalf of government that “we shall construct new offices for the new district assembly with headquarters in Abokobi”.

He stressed that the sod-cutting ceremony was an indication that with understanding and perseverance, tradition, religion and secular authority could co-exit peacefully with the hope of moving Ghana forward.

“As you may be aware, this sod-cutting ceremony was made possible by the cooperation that existed between the traditional authorities here in Abokobi and the Presbyterian Church of Ghana on one hand, and government and the district assembly on the other hand,” he expressed.

The Regional Minister went on that for effective administration, there was the need to strengthen the district assemblies and their sub-structures, and noted that government was very much committed to that.

He reiterated that the creation of a district brings the administration of government closer to the people and leads to effective redistribution of the national wealth.

Hon. Sheikh Quaye hoped that other infrastructural developments such as market centres, post office, lorry park, police station, commercial banks, schools, hospitals and other government offices and residence would be constructed in due course.

“It is in this vein that I am happy to announce that government has given approval for the construction of one Jubilee Kindergarten and Primary School in each district assembly in the country.

We in the Greater Accra Region will benefit from six such schools, and contracts have already been awarded.

“I am also happy to announce that the Ga East District Assembly Jubilee Kindergarten and Primary School would be sited here in Abokobi and it is expected to be completed within six months,” he stated.

He announced that government was seriously looking into the possibility of the establishment of a secondary/technical school in Abokobi, and therefore appealed to the chief of Abokobi and the Presbyterian Church to make land available for the fulfillment of that dream.

He further appealed to the constructor to work hard to complete the work on schedule, warning that “shoddy work would not be tolerated”.

The DCE thanked the church for maintaining a good relationship with the assembly, stressing that “we therefore have the solid foundation for socio-economic, political, administrative, cultural and educational development of our dear district.”

He appealed to the church and other landowners to readily make land available to the assembly for other infrastructural and economic projects that would benefit the district.

Hon. Allotey urged the staff of the assembly to consider themselves part of the ownership of the project, and develop maintenance culture to give it a longer life span.

For his part, Rev. Prof. Martey promised to open the church's door to the district and other meaningful Ghanaians who really want to improve the lives of the people, and called for respect for the religiosity and serenity of the 'village'.

By Wisdom Peter Awuku