On Sunday, October 23, 2022, President Akufo Addo joined the Member of Parliament for New Juaben South Hon. Michael Okyere Baafi to Commission an ultramodern office complex built by the MP to be used as the New Juaben South constituency office for NPP.
The office is made up of two (2) conference rooms, MP’s office, Chairman’s office, five (5) other offices, Kitchen, a restroom and a car park.
The MP said, “the construction of the new party office forms part of the promises I made to the constituents prior to my parliamentary candidature for the constituency.”
I remember the community was agitated when the land was being prepared because it was a waste collection centre.
Residents requested details of the project during a community engagement by the MP.
The MP explained that he was going to build a recreational and event centre that will be handed over to the community after completion. That has turned out to be deception.
Since assuming office as MP in 2021, Hon. Michael Okyere Baafi has been more visible taking part in clean-up exercises, community engagement, social events, and recently paying special attention to BECE candidates. He also tries to lobby for job opportunities for the youth etc.
This I thunderously applaud him. But in terms of physical Infrastructural projects, I am yet to know a single project started and completed by the MP with his common fund as being done by some of his colleagues (including some first-time MPs) in other constituencies-building health centres, CHPs compounds, classroom blocks, drilling mechanized boreholes, WCs etc.
Fortunately, the New Juaben South constituency is an urban area and hence doesn’t have remote villages saturated under developmental challenges
The challenges in New Juaben South which the communities have tabled before the MP are issues regarding roads, footbridges, security (police posts/stations), public toilet facilities (many communities are currently without toilet facilities due to the botched Ghana First project which saw existing ones demolished in 2018).
Albeit these challenges, is the construction of millions of cedis worth ultramodern constituency office complex that largely serves party interest, a priority project?
Couldn’t these funds help to fix some of the challenges facing the communities?
His predecessor, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah made it a project to tackle infrastructural challenges in the early childhood education sector by constructing KG blocks in almost all basic schools in the Constituency.
He also fixed some infrastructural challenges in the health sector and constructed footbridges among others.
I conclude by saying, let’s think about the masses, not primaries mathematics.
