Tema occupies the President’s heart - TMA Boss

The Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Felix Mensah Nii Annang-La, has professed that the industrial city occupies a special place in the heart of President Nana Akufo-Addo and he is determined to make it a dreamland for investors.

Consequently, he said, the President has a special bouquet of developmental plans for Tema that was rolled out with Nana Akufo-Addo himself monitoring to ensure that the vision was fulfilled.

“Just yesterday, we all heard about the reduction in port duties up to 50 per cent of what used to pertain, the idea is to return Tema to its glory days as the number one Port of choice for importers and even exporters in the West African sub-region,” Anang-La said.

According to him, the vision to return Tema to its past glory was one that President Akufo-Addo had a burning desire to achieve, hence the many bold initiatives and massive support for others initiated by past Governments.

“It is not for nothing that the Tema Port expansion by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) is progressing faster under President Akufo-Addo than his predecessor,” Mr Anang-La said.

He made the comments on the sidelines of a donation that he led the Tema Metropolitan Assembly to make towards the Tema Kpeledzoo Festival on Thursday at Tema Manhean.

The Kpeledzoo festival, which starts on Friday, April 5, is the main festival of the Tema people which is annually celebrated to commemorate the goodwill that thrived between the people and the gods of the land.

Accompanied by the Presiding Member of the TMA, Mr. Joseph Korto and staff of the Assembly, Annang La had presented an unspecified amount of money together with drinks and other items to the Tema Traditional Council to aide the celebration.

“This is just a token of solidarity from the Government to the town fathers and mothers of Tema here to aid the celebration of this year’s Kpeledzoo, but the real solidarity is in the form of the great vision that the President is executing in Tema,” Mr Felix Anang-La said.

He pointed out that as part of the vision to make Tema the number one destination for importers and exporters, the Akufo-Addo Government was constructing roads and road accessories, including the Tema Motorway roundabout, and rehabilitating the road at the Tema DVLA and the Industrial area.

Two companies; Meridian Ports Services (MPS) and Eiffage, also handed over a pavement project in the Harbour city to the chiefs and people of Tema.

On his part, the King of Tema, Nii Adjei Kraku ll, thanked the Assembly for the donation and also thanked President Akufo-Addo for the various developmental projects in the Industrial city.

“I am particularly happy that President Akufo-Addo is continuing projects that his predecessors started in Tema. This is how governance is supposed to be, a continuum,” Nii said, also on the sidelines of the donation at Tema Manhean.

Nii Amarh Somponu II, the Tema Stool Secretary, who is popularly known as Nii shippi, said “Tema is only one entity and it is wrong for people to refer to the indigenes as Tema New-town people because we are the Tema indigenes, Government alone cannot spoon feed us and that is why self-help spirit and assistance from organisations are important.

“I want to commend Mr Mohammed Samara, the Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Port Services (MPS) and others including; the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Felix Mensah Nii Annang-La for their good works.

“In fact, we have witnessed a very historic event and we are grateful to the MPS and the TMA for their contributions towards the Tema Kpeledzoo festival”.