Hohoe public library faces closure

The Ghana Library Authority (GLA) office at the Hohoe Municipal branch is facing closure following irregular allocation of imprest which has virtually brought work to a standstill.

According to Mr Stephen Hekli, officer in-charge of the library, the imprest situation had stalled counter duties, stationary supplies and administration of the facility.

He told the GNA on Wednesday that the library’s roof was leaking badly and the subscription of major dailies had been stopped 18 months ago with utility bills - water, electricity and telephone, outstanding since 2012.

Mr Hekli said the Information Communication Technology (ICT) unit of the Library, provided by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEX) for public use, was being under-utilized and hampered by lack of electricity.

He said the library provided services in research, reference purposes, learning and for ICT describing its stock as sufficient.

The officer in-charge indicated that 109 adults and 143 juveniles were registered in 2012 with 17,193 adults and 17,803 juveniles patronizing the facility last year.

Mr Hekli said a token fee was collected for annual subscription and usage of the facility. Adults pay GH¢5.00; Senior High Students, GH¢3.00; Junior High students GH¢2.00; and primary pupils attracting GH¢1.00.

He mentioned other offices in the Volta Region as Anloga, Keta, Tsito, Ho, Peki, Kpando, Jasikan, Hohoe and Agbozume.

Mr Hekli appealed to the government, financial institutions and NGO’s to come to their aid stating that correspondence between it and Hohoe Municipal Assembly for support failed to yield the needy expectation.

Dr Margeret Kweku, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, said the Assembly’s resources were over-stretched and correspondences were not enough to settle some of these challenges urging officers in the area to be more assertive.

Mr Alikem Tamakloe, Regional Director of GLA, said lack of funding to the Authority was a national problem that should attract the needed attention.

He said the attention and priority attained during the 1960’s and 70’s had been dissipated and therefore appealed to public and private institutions to rise up to the challenge.

On the regional library project, Mr Tamakloe said the pace of work had rather been slow but estimated about 78 per cent of works had been completed.