University at New Juabeng: Still on the drawing board

The hope of new Juabeng municipality getting a university is a far cry, as little has been done the All Nations International Development Agency(ANIDA), who promised the municipality an All Nation University. The Canada based ANIDA last September announced its intention at Koforidua amidst pop and pageantry. That very day, seven young seedlings were planted as a ?souls? of the university, and the ANIDA president, Asokore-born Dr. Samuel Donkor, promised that some buildings would be put up early for the first batch of student to be admitted in September, this year. He made a promise at the sod -cutting attended by Council of State member Osabarima Awuah Kotoko, New Juabeng Paramount Chief Daasebra Oti Boateng, some ministers and directors from the Ghana Education Service(GES).

Five month latter, the trees planted for the prosperity have withered away. A few weeks after the September ceremony, cocoyam took over the 1,000 acres of the land, which had been cleared for the project. . Soon, cocoyam gave way to ?Acheampong? shrubs, which are now maturing into secondary forest. NOT A SINGLE CONCRETE BLOCK has been laid in fulfillment of the promise. By December, last year the expectation of the people of New Juabeng had heightened to the point of anxiety. Chronicle, therefore, inquired from the represantative of the board of the planned university as to what was happening. At that time, the gentleman ?disclose? the prefabricated materials for the building has been imported and were being kept at Tema, from where they would ?soon? be send down to the project site at Efidwasi.

The All Nation Universiy mission statement is to provide quality higher education that is applied to promote devolopment. The institute also to raise leaders with christian values and ethics for good government to serve the people. In addition to the obvious benefits for such a noble mission the people of New Juabeng expected that some 10,000 skilled and unskilled jobs would spring up from the university for them. What is more, the university had been assigned the rights to approximately 1,000 acres of land by the government. By February last year, only 160 acres had been paid for. Even so, those whose parcels of land were ceded to the government complained that they has been cheated, as their parcels of land and crops were not fairly assessed before being paid. ?It was with heavy hearts and great expectations that we let go our parcels of land? one chief said , pointing out that New Juabeng, being smallest district in the whole country , is one of the places where land is scarce. ?Now they bulldozed our cocoa, orange,plantin, cassava, and oilpalm farms only to plant useless ?Acheampong? weeds in their stead, the chief concluded.

Efforts to obtain an explanation from Ontario office of the ANIDA for the stalling of the project has so far failed. But the sources opined that the land acquisition issue is at the heart of the problem.

According to a New Juabeng palace source, certain aggrieved individuals had petitioned againsr the free takeover of their parcels of land, making it impossible for ANIDA to start work. The source, however, claim that the ?against people?s efforts will come to nouhgt? as new in Juaben the whole land belongs to the state. He explained that when Juaben deserted Asante Kingdom and settled at their new place in the early years of the last century,it was colonial government that bought the whole land, which is now the New Dubbing Municipal Area, for them.