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The youth of Krobo and its environs in the Eastern Region have expressed grave disappointment over the utterances of some Members of Parliament (MPs), who are calling for the relocation of the proposed University of Environment and Sustainable Development from Somanya to Koforidua.

According to the youth, even though it is the constitutional right of the MPs to speak their minds on any the issue, the arguments put up by Dominic Ntiwul, Paapa Owusu Ankomah, Adwoa Safo, and Patrick Boamah, MPs for Bimbilla, Sekondi, Dome-Kwabenya and Okaikoi Central respectively, on the floor of parliament issue, flawed both intellectually and logically.

They have, therefore, called for the immediate suspension, or an end to the debate, as such arguments could go a long way to deprive people in the area the opportunity to host a university on their land. This was contained in a press statement dated Monday June 15, 2015, signed by Isaac Tamatey Otu, Chairman of Kloma Hengme, a Krobo Advocacy and Heritage Association, and copied The Chronicle.

Contributing on the floor of the House on the amendment of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development Bills (2014) on Thursday 11th June, 2015, the four legislators expressed concern over the location of the proposed university at Somanya.

The MPs indicated that all public universities were first established in the regional capitals, before setting up their satellite campuses elsewhere, and so the location of the university in Somanya is for political expediency. Reacting to the submissions of the MPs, the Krobo youth averred that though the MPs have the right to express their opinion on any issue, they are heavily disappointed in their line of debate.

They explained that not all public universities were located in regional capitals, and, therefore, Somanya would not be the first.  They said the University of Education has its main campus at Winneba and not Cape coast, which is the regional capital, and so is the University of Mines and Technology at Tarkwa.

They argued that there are already plans to turn the Koforidua Polytechnic into a fully fledged technical university by September 2016, saying it will, therefore, not be appropriate to locate another public university there.  “The choice of Somanya for the university was recommended by a technical committee of experts, headed by Professor George Benneh (Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana), and it is, therefore, not for political expediency by the current government, as the aforementioned MPs want us to believe,” the statement said.

Justifying why the university should be established at Somanya, the angry youth indicated that “Somanya has, since the 1960s, been on the development plans of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to establish an agricultural university during the days of the vibrant Workers Brigade in the area.

“The work of the technical committee of experts only confirms that the location of Somanya, indeed, is suitable for a public university, and no one must oppose it.” The youth continued they are surprised that, at this time when most of the capital cities are too congested to accommodate such facilities, with people calling for the decentralisation of the country’s institutions, our MPs are making such arguments.

The youth called for the immediate suspension or end to the debate on the relocation of the university, saying: “We, the youth, are going to do everything possible to ensure that the university stays here in the Krobo area at all costs. “This university is coming here to Kroboland at all costs, and we are aware of an additional 200 acres of land that has been provided by our chiefs to supplement the already existing land apportioned for the university.

“We want such unfortunate debates to cease immediately, since it is not good for the health of the country, and will make us to mark time in our developmental efforts,” the youth pointed out. They explained further that the argument of the four MPs is not only a lack of intellectual discourse, but a deliberate attempt to deprive the Krobo area of a university.