Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso Central who doubles as the Deputy Minister for the Interior, Henry Quartey, has pledged 200 bags of cement, 4,000 blocks, among others, for the reconstruction of a school wall that killed a mother and her son in Accra after its collapse.
The promise came after the wall collapsed on a woman and her son on Thursday, May 30, 2019, afternoon at about 1:30 PM.
Residents and the Kwame Nkrumah Basic School authorities have been pleading with city officials for more than a year to reconstruct the wall they regarded as a death trap.
The MP has also swiftly directed the engineer for the Municipality to commence work on the wall within 14 days and to identify structures on walkways so they can be pulled down if possible.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Ishmael Ashitey and the Minister of Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh are also expected to examine the state of the Nkrumah Nkrumah Basic School at Newtown, a suburb of Accra, the MP said.
He said he has been lobbying for a new school building for the area under the Millennium School Project.
According to eyewitnesses, the baby died on the spot while tied at the back of his mother, and the mother died at the Police Hospital where they were conveyed by some good Samaritans.
Residents and teachers described the school complex itself as a “death trap†and that it should not be surprising to government, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education should the school collapse one day and students lose their lives as a result.
Ayawaso Central Submetro Director of NADMO, Sylvester Kwakye, admitted that indeed, NADMO was approached on three occasions about the poor state of the school complex and how it posed risk to human life.
He said on two occasions, he submitted reports to the Metro Director at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) on the need to take action about the poor state of the school.
According to him, another report was submitted to the Ayawaso Central Municipality about the state of the school and the complaints of the teachers.
Mr Kwakye told DGN Online that he has been in office for more than a year and half and that he became aware of the situation within his first month of taking office.
“We have come here for inspections on about three occasions which we have done our reports,†adding that “We had a chat with the school authorities, the head teacher and some teachers. After that, we came back. We realized that the wall was cracked.
At the time of the inspections, Ayawaso Central was a sub-metro under AMA.
He revealed that NADMO was waiting for AMA to award the contract for the demolition of the wall to pave way for a new one to be constructed.
When asked why that was not done, he said, there were complaints from AMA about lack of funds for the project.
Shockingly, he said, it was only last week that a contractor was brought to the school to work on the wall.
Interestingly, the teachers who spoke to DGN Online said nothing had been done about the situation and when asked whether the wall.
Credit: Daily guide
READ ALSO:Â Collapsed wall kills mother and son in Accra