Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education has said in response to claims to the contrary by Akyem Abuakwa South MP Samuel Atta Akyea, that the siting of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) in Somanya has nothing to do with politics.
Mr Akyea had lamented in a recent interview with media: “Look at the siting of the University for the Eastern Region. Okyehene has been good enough to have piloted an agricultural university, and the majority brings the vote. If you measure the strength of the population of Somanya as against Akyem Abuakwa and the biggest paramountcy in the Eastern Region, logic alone should inform everybody that the best place to site a university for the Eastern Region should be in Abuakwa South, my constituency, and perhaps you partner with the Okyehene and have the university.
The Akyem royal supposed that because the government sees us [Akyems] as electoral liability, they mentioned the university in Somanya and not in Okyehene’s kingdom. Mr Ablakwa has disagreed, saying his colleague MP’s comments were most unfortunate.
According to Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, political interests did not influence the decision to locate the UESD at Somanya. As it was a very objective exercise, adding that at the end of discussions by a technical committee for siting of the University, Somanya and Donkorkrom, both in the Eastern Region, were settled on.
