24 Community ICT Centers Abandoned In Ashanti Region

Only four out of 27 community ICT centers set up in rural communities in the Ashanti Region are functional, Joy News has learnt.

The facilities, established since 2006 by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) is to bridge rural-urban communication gap.

ICT centres at Nkawie, Bekwai, Kodie and Nkwanta Kese are priestly fully in operation.

The rest have been abandoned by the District Assemblies which have oversight responsibilities.

Broken louvre blades on the community ICT project at Namong in the Offinso South Municipality have been replaced with plastic materials.

The building is fast deteriorating as damp forms both at the top and the base of the building.

All computers in the facility are dysfunctional.

Residents say the ICT officer who used the facility as his residence vacated the premises weeks ago.

At the centre at Kwamang in the Sekyere Central District, most computers have allegedly been stolen despite the facility being under lock and key.

All doors and windows and the burglar proof structures are intact.

Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, is unhappy about the level of neglect and deterioration.

“Nothing works here. The Ministry will build it and provide the equipment but it is the duty of the Assemblies to maintain them. Our children need these centres and we cannot continue like this,” she said.

She indicates the Ministry will consider handing over the facilities to NGOs and other partners for proper management.

“We are taking over all those properties, renovating them and making them available for all our children. The Assemblies have proved to us they cannot [handle them].”

Meanwhile, two new separate centres, each with 40 monitors, have been opened at the Kwaman Presbyterian Secondary Technical School and Nsutaman SHS.

By: Myjoyonline.com