Ghanaians Castigate Prez Akufo-Addo For Commissioning Turf

It appears many Ghanaians are not happy with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s move to commission an artificial turf in the Greater Accra Region.

The event took place on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

The facility located at Alajo was constructed by the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) under the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) and was subsequently commissioned by the President.

In a Facebook post after the event, President Akufo-Addo said he led the sod-cutting ceremony on January 4, 2020, to make way for the construction.

“Since we assumed office in 2017, the IPEP alone has been responsible for the construction of sixty-eight (68) astroturf pitches. Thirty (30) of them have been completed and are in use, and thirty-six (38) are currently at various stages of completion”, he said.

“I urged residents of Ayawaso Central and those from other constituencies who are beneficiaries of these astroturf projects to put them to effective use. The various committees set up to manage these assets must also give critical attention to their maintenance to help enhance their lifespan.”

This didn’t go down well with a section of Ghanaians although it isn’t the first time he has commissioned an artificial turf.

In 2021, he commissioned one in the Bantama constituency.

Critics hold that such facilities should rather be commissioned by chief Executives of MMDCEs and not a head of state.

Some comments under the President’s post read, “Does the president needs to commission this thing too…..this is too cheap”, “Commissioning of Astroturf by the First Gentleman of the land That’s below belt”, “AstroTurf too unless the president himself commission it”, “This project shouldn’t take a whole president of Ghana to commission These projects are to be commissioned by maybe an assemblyman or District Chief Executive.”

“So this is how low we have descended as a nation for a whole president to be commissioning an Astroturf pitch? Too bad.”, “In some countries, presidents are commissioning life-saving projects, here we have time for everything”, “I’m even crying . You went to commission AstroTurf ” and “Commissioner of Astroturf tweaa”.

But others patted him for it.

“We are grateful Mr president”, “Good job Mr President” and “Good work than,keep on doing the good work for Ghanaians only God knows what you are doing,God bless you mr president”.

Meanwhile, the President said construction of ten 5,000-seater Youth and Sports Centres of Excellence in ten (10) regions across the country is also ongoing.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini