Akufo-Addo Reveals Why He Renovated Asomdwee Park
The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, says his only motive for renovating the Asomdwee Park which was in tatters years back was to give the late former President John Evan Atta Mills a befitting resting place.
He debunked assertions that his act was to cause a section of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to defect to his side by that.
According to President Akufo-Addo, it was not right that the park remained in ruins for quite a while.
“It was not right that the Park had been allowed to deteriorate considerably over the years since his burial in 2012, and I am happy that it was under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, allegedly his “fiercest critic”, that Asomdwee Park has been elevated to a status befitting the final resting place of a President of the Republic of Ghana.
“I did so with that objective solely in mind, and not to exploit or take advantage of any so-called divisions in the political party to which he belonged. Those alleged divisions are not of my making, and do not, in any way, inure to my benefit.”
Akufo-Addo recalled that “I received a request from the late President’s energetic Communications Director, Koku Anyidoho, who runs the Institute named after the President, for the assistance of Government to rehabilitate the facility. I agreed, and, subsequently, I instructed the Coastal Development Authority to undertake a thorough rehabilitation of the Park, with the close co-operation of the Institute.”
The refurbished park was commissioned on Sunday, July 24, 2022, by President Akufo-Addo.
Former Deputy Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Koku Anyidoho in February 2022 claimed former President John Dramani Mahama intentionally abandoned Ghana’s first presidential mausoleum, the Asomdwee Park in ruins while in office.
The embattled politician made this remark in an interview on TV3 News at 10 after the John Evan Atta Mills Memorial Heritage was launched on February 1, 2022.
“John Mahama was president for four and half years but what did he do to remember President Mills. He refused to build Asomdwee park, he deliberately refused to build the Asomdwee park”, he blatantly stated.
A news report by Graphic in 2018 on the Asomdwee park where the late President Mills was buried, said that the place was in disarray with some parts of the fencing protecting the late president’s tomb, broken down.
Graphic reported that it had become a haven for hawkers, trespassers, vagrants, and cattle, giving “the place an uncharacteristic blemish”.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
