Nii Lante Vanderpuye
Simmering tension is brewing in the Volta Region over what residents, particularly sports enthusiasts have described as contradictions and deceits over the construction of an ultra modern stadium for the region.
The confusion which started last Monday emerged after news broke that Ghana’s Sports Minister, Nii Lante Vanderpuye has contradicted President Mahama and governing National Democratic Congress’s manifesto promise of building a brand new Sports Stadium for the region.
The Minister speaking to an enthusiastic crowd in Ho, the Volta Regional capital last Saturday emphasised that no new stadium will be built in the region, except for the renovation of the existing facility which can’t be described as a stadium.
To this end, plans are far advanced for engineers to begin feasibility studies at the old facility from this week to ascertain the level of work needed to be done.
Contradiction and Confusion
His comments sharply contradict earlier claims since 2011 by government to construct a brand new sports stadium along the Ho-Adaklu highway for which a land had already been acquired.
President during the NDC’s Manifesto launch in September, 2016 promised to honour the promise. The Ho Stadium is part of five new stadia the President promised to construct should the NDC be given a third term in office.
He noted that the facilities will be constructed in the Upper East, Upper West, Brong Ahofo, Volta and the Eastern regions.
However, Mr. Vanderpuye on the side-lines of a health walk organized by the NDC to climax the five day tour of the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah to beg the Chiefs and people of the region for votes, noted that the dilapidated and abandoned mini stadium will be renovated to have similar capacity of the Cape Coast stadium of about 16,000.
The Sports Minister explained that government had taken that decision of reconstructing the old stadium instead of a new one for convenience and proximity sake.
“We don’t want the situation where the stadium will be too far from town thereby bringing transportation problems as we are witnessing with the Essipong stadium,” the minister claimed.
Voltarians Unhappy
This explanation had further infuriated residents who are aware that the site for the proposed new stadium was less than two kilometres and easily accessible to all residents in the regional capital and beyond. In fact, people could actually walk to the place or pay less than GH¢5.00 for a chartered taxi fare.
Most of the radio stations in Ho were inundated with calls and complaints about the new development with a cross section of them saying “the NDC government is joking with us,” “Who should we believe, the Minister or the President,” “The NDC is a confused government and party,” “They only want to take us for granted,” among others.
Current State of Old Stadium
The existing Ho Sports Stadium had never seen any form of renovation since it was constructed in 1957 and has been in a deplorable state over the years.
The situation had forced the National Sports Authority to close down the facility over a year ago to source funding and investors to renovate the facility, a move which has yielded little progress.
This has forced many users of the facility to look for alternative venues for their sporting activities.
In the meantime, most of the lands around the current stadium has been encroached upon living little room for expansion, should it be reconstructed. Residents believe this will only go down to be another vote induced promise which will not be fulfilled.
According to the Minister, the project is expected to last for 18 months reiterating that no new stadium will be constructed despite the President’s promise.
From Fred Duodu and Gibril Abdul Razak, Ho (freduoo@gmail.com)