Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
VICE PRESIDENT Bawumia has started counting the achievements of the Zongo Development Fund (ZoDF), a special purpose vehicle for improvement of living conditions in Zongo communities across the country.
So far, he said over 300 projects have been completed in several Zongo communities with many more either nearing completion or still ongoing.
This includes a total of 2,406 units of streetlights that have been installed in more than 40 Zongo communities to improve the lightning system and security.
The rest include classroom blocks, roads, astro-turfs, mechanised boreholes, drainage systems, ICT centres and bridges, as well as providing employable skill training for the Zongo youth in bead-making, leather works, dressmaking, liquid soap preparation among others, to empower them to be financially self-reliant.
The Vice President made this public when he commissioned a six-unit classroom block for the Tunga Islamic Community School at Dansoman in the Ablekuma West Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
Other ancillary facilities attached to the six-unit block include a washroom, staff-room and a room for computer laboratory.
The Zongo Development Fund is the frontline agency and vehicle through which government seeks to develop the Zongo communities and improve the standards of living of the people.
The ceremony attracted pupils, parents and guardians, Member of Parliament for the area, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Zongo chiefs, Imams and the Clergy.
Since the attainment of Ghana’s independence in 1957, Dr. Bawumia indicated that no government has ever allocated a budget deliberately for the development of Zongo communities, hence the establishment of the Fund dedicated to Zongo communities by the Akufo-Addo government was indisputably unprecedented.
In the Greater Accra Region for instance, he said “we have undertaken a massive renovation and upgrading of the popular Institute of Islamic Studies (Research) at Nima, work is also currently ongoing for the comprehensive rehabilitation of Ansarudeen Islamic School founded by His Eminence the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, at New Fadama.”
“Additionally, government, through the Zongo Development Fund has provided teaching and learning materials to the Islamic Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service for distribution to schools in several Zongo communities in the Greater Accra Region,” he added.
He, therefore, noted that the interventions by the Fund were commendable efforts aimed at bridging the yawning gap in the educational fortunes of Zongo communities vis-a-vis other communities.
Apart from that, he said government has implemented a comprehensive development of educational infrastructure in Zongo communities to improve health facilities, sanitation, and human resource development through skills training and educational grants as well as improving the ambience, visibility and security in Zongo communities.
He mentioned communities such as New Fadama and Madina as having witnessed remarkable transformation in social, recreational and sporting activities through the construction of community sports and social centres, and urged the people to take good care of the facilities.
Christian Julius Aforlah, the Ablekuma West Municipal Director of Education, thanked the government for making massive investment in education, which had increased school enrolment.
Currently, he said there were more than 11,000 pupils enrolled at the basic level in the municipality, made up of 5,346 boys and 5,686 girls.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Zongo Development Fund, Dr. Arafat Sulemana Abdulai, expressed the government’s commitment to improving the living conditions of people in the Zongo communities.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West Constituency, Madam Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said the Akufo-Addo government did not discriminate in sharing the national cake, and believed that maintaining the government in power would bring more infrastructure projects to Zongo enclaves.
BY Charles Takyi-Boadu