By Quansah Mavis/Dela Nyamador
Tema, Oct. 2, GNA – A memorial park started in 2012 to honour Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, founder of Tema, has now been turned into a resting place for squatters and street hawkers around the Padmore Traffic Light at Tema Community One.
The memorial park is now in a deteriorated state, with giant golden statues of Nkrumah and traditional statues of dancers in front of the Nkrumah. Two fountains built are also left with stagnant water.
During a visit to the site by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office, it was observed that the park has now also been converted into gracing grounds for cattle.
Aside from the bad state of the park and its environs, a building structure for a library to help improve learning and research for citizens has also been abandoned and is now used as a hidden place for criminals and a resting site for squatters.
In an interview with the GNA, Mr. Alex Kwadwo Mensah, a hawker mentioned that since there’s no development going on at the site, they’re using the place for their day- to-day activities and sometimes sleep there.
He also mentioned that some boys come there to smoke, sometimes engage in a fight with the sellers, and steal their money.
Madam Comfort Okoh also a trader stated that, the absences of light in the park and the building structure also makes it possible for the “wee boys” to hid and smoke.
She therefore called on the Tema Metropolitan Authority and stakeholders to intervene and make the place memorable.
The site currently has the golden statue of Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah erected in the middle, while traditional Ghanaian horn players adorned in male customary cloth lowered to waist level continue to blow the silent tune in remembrance of the great son of Africa.
Two Ghanaian women, who also mysteriously continue to dance in front of Osagyefo Nkrumah to signify the stature of his personality, in spite of these grand pastures with the potential to attract tourists, continue to sit down, waiting and crying for complexion.
The Ghana News Agency investigation reveals that the Tema Metropolis currently has no public library, as the existing one located near Tema Senior High School now belongs to the Tema West Municipality, which was carved out of the TMA.
The new library, which commenced in January 2021, is located on part of the land being developed into Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park at Tema Community one.
The Nkrumah Park, which was an initiative of the Assembly under the administration of Mr. Robert Kempes Ofosuware in 2012, was to acknowledge Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, for his vision to build Tema as the first well-planned city in West Africa, but for the past nine years, it is still classified as work in progress.
The Tema Nkrumah Park was designed to serve as a recreational centre and tourist site with aesthetic landscaping; however, it came to a halt for some years, forfeiting its intended purpose, which led to a lot of complaints from residents.
According to information available to the GNA, the project was part of measures taken by the Assembly to provide children in the Metropolis with quality education and learning materials.
GNA