Bring back Zongo Ministry with focus on education – Neurosurgeon tells Akufo-Addo

A renowned Neurosurgeon and Physician at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Dr Abdullah Hadi Mohammed has advocated for the restoration of the Zongo Ministry, but with maximum focus on education.

He said the setting up of the Zongo Ministry was a novelty and should have rather focused on education in the Zongos instead of the over-concentration and investment in sports.

He added the investment in education would have helped in closing the poverty gap in the Zongo settings.

“I think the Zongo Ministry should have focussed on education. The building of the pitches and all that was just a side issue. They should have focussed on education. When you speak to our coaches they will tell you how important education is and how these kids feel to appreciate tactics,” Dr Addullah maintained.

He continued: “I think that if any government think about the Zongo Ministry again they should focus on education giving these young children proper education from Primary Level like Nkrumah did with the Northern Region. The Zongos are forgotten people because we in the Zongos have to compete with kids from Teshie-Nungua Estate for the same slot.”

Dr Abdullah told host Nana Aba Anamoah that many of these top politicians and successful people were just one generation away from poverty, but are successful today through education.

“So, the opportunities given to the politicians, they should always cast their mind back from where they were coming from. When they say they are going home they are going back to their villages. So they should give similar opportunities that Nkrumah gave to them, that Guggisberg gave to them and they should give that to our children in the Zongos,” he stated.

The government has moved oversight of Zongo and Inner City Development to the Presidency after scrapping the Ministry set for it in the Akufo-Addo administration’s first term.

A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Offinso South and the Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in Parliament, Ben Abdallah Banda superintends over the Secretariat as Special Coordinator for Zongo Development under the Office of the President.

Meanwhile, the establishment of a Zongo Development Fund has been credited with the rapid provision of educational opportunities, human development and infrastructure development in Zongo communities.

In the past four years, the Fund has provided classroom blocks, water systems, drainage systems, access roads and bridges in a number of Zongos, as well as offered entrepreneurial and vocational training opportunities to many young people.