Our money gone waste: The Obuasi white elephant library

By Emmanuel Agyemfra Boateng

The last time I visited the new library which is located close to the Municipal Assembly and not too far from the Obuasi Government hospital, I bowed down my head in shame and was talking to myself as if I was going bonkers. How can such a nice edifice stand from 2007 till now empty and getting weak?

I spoke with the security man on duty who said the rooms are full of cobwebs and dust but there are no books.

Most of us know very well that, the old library which is located just behind the Central Mosque is nothing to write home about. Looking at its current location, tattered books, wobbling tables and chairs and other uninspiring features scare users from going there.

Mr. Edward Ennin the former Member of Parliament for Obuasi constituency and now the Member of Parliament for Obuasi East did a very fantastic job by allocating part of his HIPC funds and his share of the MPs common fund to the building of the Library.

I always hear him on radio and TV beating his chest for building a library! I normally shake my head and sigh deeply to relieve the disappointment I have for him. When is an edifice called a library, is it when it is stocked or when the building is still standing empty and dilapidating?

From 2007 till date, he has spent over GHC300, 000.00 on the white elephant library. Don’t forget this is our money; we voted him to power and signed a social contract with him to serve us not the other way round.

Thanks to the Electoral Commission for splitting the Obuasi Constituency into East and West. Mr. Kwaku Agyemang Kwarteng who won the Obuasi West seat has also not tried anything like upgrading or putting finishing touching to the library built with our money.

I learnt the two are not in good terms but the constituents don’t want to hear that! What the constituents in Obuasi East and West want to hear is that the library is completed and that students and community members are using it.

Both the HIPC fund and MPs common funds are public funds and didn’t come from any politicians’ pocket. I am not in any way trying to beg the two MPs to hurry up with the new library project.

A top official at the Municipal Assembly also said building of a Library is not the OMA’s priority because his kids use ipads and tablets to research!

I want to tell them they will one day account for every single pesewa they took from the state in the name of helping Obuasi develop.

Messers Edward Ennin and Kwaku Agyemang Kwarteng should tell the constituents the crime they committed by voting them in power if they can’t complete a single Library.

It seems the Obuasi Municipal Assembly doesn’t care about whether it is completed or not. I don’t blame the OMA and our two Parliamentarians. I blame the citizens in Obuasi who don’t demand transparency and accountability from those they sent up there to serve them.

Kudos to Youth Alliance for Development (YAD). They petitioned the Municipal Chief Executive about the current state of the library and after barely two months, nothing have been heard about it.

Obuasiman deserves better.