The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has dispelled suggestions that the Asomdwee park was in a bad state prior to its renovation by the New Patriotic Party government.
For him, such claims are misguided and should be disregarded.
He says the park is a state facility, and it is being guarded by national security, thus political parties have no power to come into the park to renovate it.
“People speak as if Asomdwee park was closed down, it was in tatters and nothing could be done about it and nothing could be held here. What people must recognize is that this facility is not a private facility. Many people in their narrative forget this point. Asomdwee park is for the state because Prof. Mills died in office, so political party activists cannot come here without authorization from the state on their own. I will dispel that notion that this place is in a state of disarray.”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, 24th July 2022, commissioned the refurbished Asomdwee Park, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of the 3rd President of the 4th Republic, the late Professor John Evans Atta-Mills.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Akufo-Addo noted that the commissioning of the project by the government should naturally be a joyous occasion, and should elicit the display of pomp and pageantry in recognition of the feat achieved.
“But today’s event is not one of those ordinary occasions. Exactly ten years ago, a truly tragic incident occurred, one we had never witnessed, and hope will never reoccur in our history, certainly not in our lifetime – the death of a sitting President in office, the death of the 3rd President of the 4th Republic, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills.
According to President Akufo-Addo, he was a contemporary of the late President at the University of Ghana, were members of the same hall, Legon Hall, and played in the same University football team.
“As fate would have it, we ended up belonging to and leading different political organizations. We contested the presidency in 2008, and even though some will say it does not count, I won the first round and he won the second round, the round that really mattered. I was looking forward to the third round in 2012, when the Almighty called him home on 24th July 2012,” he added.
The President noted that, sometime after becoming President, he became aware of the sad state of Asomdwee Park, and, in 2020, he received a request from the late President’s energetic Communications Director, Koku Anyidoho, who runs the Institute named after the President, for the assistance of Government to rehabilitate the facility.
“I agreed, and, subsequently, I instructed the Coastal Development Authority to undertake a thorough rehabilitation of the Park, with the close co-operation of the Institute,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo continued, “It was not right that the Park had been allowed to deteriorate considerably over the years since his burial in 2012, and I am happy that it was under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, allegedly his ‘fiercest critic’, that Asomdwee Park has been elevated to a status befitting the final resting place of a President of the Republic of Ghana.”
The President explained that he did so not to exploit or take advantage of any so-called divisions in the National Democratic Congress, stressing that “those alleged divisions are not of my making, and do not, in any way, inure to my benefit.”
He also addressed the “unfortunate accusations” leveled by some against the Government about the supposed desecration of the tomb of the late President in the process of rehabilitating the Park.
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is good to note that these false, malicious statements have been firmly dispelled and debunked by the Coastal Development Authority, through the agency of its CEO, Mr. Jerry Ahmed Schaib, in a public statement under his hand,” he stated.
Reiterating his sincere condolences to the former First Lady and spouse of the late President, Ernestina Naadu Mills, to the entire family, to the National Democratic Congress, and to the people of Ghana “for their great loss”, President Akufo-Addo stated that “the man from Ekumfi Otuam will not be forgotten”.
