Akufo-Addo best at renaming but not how to build – Mahama

Former President John Mahama has criticised President Nana Akufo-Addo over what he described as his insatiable taste to rename critical projects which were embarked on by his predecessors.

The Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said it would have been right for the president to give names to projects he initiated rather than renaming institutions such as schools that already existed.

Addressing a mini rally in Somanya as part of his campaign tour in the Eastern Region, Mr Mahama noted that President Akufo-Addo was not only naming projects to suit his agenda but was also depriving some communities of what the erstwhile NDC government planned for them.

Touching on some projects his administration undertook in the Eastern Region– the home region of Akufo-Addo–the NDC leader pointed to the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) which commenced in 2016 and said it was done to give the region it’s first public university.

He added that a satellite campus that was scheduled to be sited at Afram Plains had been relocated to Akyem, the home town of Nana Akufo-Addo.

He said the decision was unfair especially as the current government was not part of the initiation of the school.

“When the late President Atta Mills was governing this country which I was his vice, he planned to build a University in every region that had no public University. At that time the Brong Ahafo region didn’t have, so we built the University of Development and Natural Resources. Volta Region was also without University so we built the University of Health and Allied Sciences.”

He continued, “Eastern region too didn’t have a University so we built the University of Environment and Sustainable Development. So before I left government, I secured funding for the project and came to cut-sod which by the grace of God the University has been completed but one thing which has gone wrong is that the University was supposed to have a second campus in Afram Plains but I have heard that the President has relocated the campus from Afram Plains to his hometown. And that is unfair.”

Mahama chastised the president and said he only did that because “he doesn’t know how to build a university.”

“He [Akufo-Addo] doesn’t know how to build a university but able to relocate campus to his hometown,” Mahama said in Akan. “Again, he is going round renaming existing Universities. You don’t know how to build institutions but you know how to rename them.”

Mr Mahama who touted his achievement in the education sector assured that a future NDC government will establish Universities in all the six new regions created to make tertiary education accessible to the people.

Background of UESD

University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD)located in Somanya is the first public university in the region and funded by the erstwhile Mahama administration.

It is the first university in West Africa established to focus on research in natural Environment and climate change as well as agro-business.

Sod-cutting for the construction of the University was done by Mr. Mahama in December 2016.

The first phase of the project was complete and Commissioned by President Akufo-Addo on August 6, 2020, for enrollment of first batch of students to begin in 2020/2021 academic year. Former President John Mahama has criticised President Nana Akufo-Addo over what he described as his insatiable taste to rename critical projects which were embarked on by his predecessors.