By Prince Acquah
Cape Coast, Aug 23, GNA – The Central Regional Education Directorate is appealing to corporate organisations and the public for sponsorship to construct an office complex in Cape Coast.
The Directorate, with the support of the Regional Coordinating Council, has secured a two-acre land for the ultramodern project but lacks the financial wherewithal to commence it.
Currently, it operates from the second and third floors of the 47-year-old dilapidated ministries’ block in Cape Coast, which has been declared a “death trap” by the Ghana National Fire Service and the Public Works Department (PWD).
The five-storey structure also hosts other institutions such as the Ghana Immigration Service, Non-Formal Education and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA), Audit Service, Information Services Department, COCOBOD and other institutions, which occupied the other floors have all vacated the building owing to its dilapidated state.
The GNA, during a visit to the premises, noticed the worsened situation, with deep cracks on the floors and walls, while the iron rods were exposed and the toilet facilities in a sorry state.
That is in addition to the broken down lifts, which had rendered the edifice disability unfriendly.
Mr B.K. Asare, the Regional Planning Officer of the Education Directorate, told the GNA that when it rained, the roofs leaked badly as water sipped through the building down the walls and stairways.
He said the corridors and offices always got flooded, compelling some officers to carry their documents elsewhere to save them.
“The floods continue to destroy our documents, computers, and other logistics because we don’t have a depot to keep them,” he said.
“It is a dire situation here; concretes are constantly falling off. Because of that, many clients choose to deal with the Directorate via phone or online because they are afraid to show up physically.”
He also bemoaned the lack of adequate space for the 64 staff of the Directorate for which reason most of the offices had been temporarily paired.
“Recently, the Ghana National Fire Service and the Electricity Company of Ghana warned that the place had become highly susceptible to fire outbreak as the wiring done more than 40 years ago with 2.5ml wires are enduring too much pressure,” he said.
Despite the threats and challenges, Mr Asare said the education office continued to stay in the dilapidated structure because they had no choice as all efforts to find a temporal office to relocate had proved futile.
“That is why we are appealing to all stakeholders to come to our aid to put up the new office complex to enhance the critical role we play in the region and the country.”
“We serve hundreds of people on daily basis and certainly, getting a new office and relocating from this hazardous environment will make us more efficient.”
GNA