Even though the Akufo Addo administration is lamenting being broke from the ravages of COVID-19, the President today cut the sod for constructing a GHC5 million Ghana Award House.
The profligate spending is for a special secretariat for the age-old Presidential award scheme for young people that appear not to need urgency at the moment.
The construction work is expected to be completed in 36 weeks.
This spending has enraged Ghanaians who have taken to social media to decry the twisted priority of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, particularly amidst the overhanging plans of the government to build a US$ 100 million National Cathedral for Christians.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony, President Akufo-Addo explained that since its inception in 1967, the Head of State Award Scheme has challenged and touched the lives of many young Ghanaians, with some 750,000 young people participating and benefitting from the Scheme.
“I have always been excited about the work being done by the Award Scheme, and that is why I continue to urge them to ensure that as many young Ghanaians as possible benefit from it. To achieve this ambitious target, a befitting administrative office for the Scheme will be required. The provision of a Ghana Award House, to serve this purpose, is my commitment towards driving the agenda of the Award Scheme,” the President said.
Once completed, the Ghana Award House project will be a two-story office block, with a 200 capacity conference room, and training facility designed to house the National Secretariat of the Head of State Award Scheme.
The President noted that the “completion of the Ghana Award House project will put Ghana ahead of many of the countries running the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.”
It will mean that Ghana “will be the second country in Africa, after the Presidents’ Award of Kenya, and one of the few countries globally, to have its own administrative office,” President Akufo Addo said, much to the chagrin of angry Ghanaian netizens.
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