Residents of Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana East Municipality have called on the government to expedite action in completing the Navrongo Sports Stadium.
The sod cutting for the project was done in July 2018 with a promise to complete it in 9 months’ time. But almost 4 years down the line, the construction of the project has come to a halt with the contractor vacating the site.
Clad in red attire with placards, the youth of the Navrongo and its environs today match on the principal streets of Navrongo to call on government to complete the project.
Akwata Yaminu Stanislav, one of the conveners of the protester said the current state of the project is retarding the progress of sports in the municipality and the region at large.
“The current state of the facility is retarding our progress in sports which has even seen little or no attention in the region thus far. We do have talents in Navrongo and the Upper East at large but the no-stadium-situation or worthy football pitch is derailing our efforts. Currently, there is no stadium in the region that qualified for the Ghana Division One league football. Any team that qualifies from the Upper East Region either has to choose between Tamale or Wa to play their home matches. This was the fate of Bolga All Stars FC and as expected, they could not cope so they got relegated one year after qualifying from the Division Two League. Currently, Kassena Nankana United FC has qualified for the Division One league and they are bound to suffer the same fate if nothing is done.”
The disgruntled youth say any further delay by the government to ensure that the contractor return to site before the end of June will mean an insult and a disrespect to the people of Kassena Nankana and the Upper East Region.
“We cannot continue to suffer like this as a people when there is this great opportunity before us. The stadium cannot and should not be counted as one of such projects labelled white elephants. We are tired of waiting; our patience has run out and the usual diplomacy is not working so we are here today asking the government to see to the completion of the Youth Resource Center which includes the stadium. We do not care about what is causing the delays. The stadium should be completed now. When we say now, we mean we want to see a contractor on-site within this month June 2022. If we do not see a contractor on site, then that would be neglect on the youth, an insult enough to our cry, a disrespect to the people of Kassena Nankana and the whole region.”
Kassena-Nankana Municipal Chief Executive, Joseph Adongo who received the petition on behalf of the government promised to channel their concerns to the president for redress.
“What we are doing here, the whole world will know that we are out there trying to make sure that the talents that we have, government should help us to unearth them. We are with you and we will make sure that all avenues that we will use to make sure that this stadium is completed, we will not relent in our efforts to make sure that, that is done. The Overload of Navrongo is behind you [conveners] and anybody at all interested in making sure that this project is completed,” he stated.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Navrongo|Ghana
