Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency Alban Bagbin has received a priestly blessing for his enormous contribution towards infrastructural development of a school in the Upper West Region.
Rev. Fr. Peter Paul Yelletuo, Principal of McCoy College of Education, did not only extol Alban Bagbin for his goodwill towards the development of the school since its inception in 2011 but also evoke on him his sacred blessings.
The Rev. Father said: “He’s really a bridge trying to mend our needs to join it up to standard” before giving his blessings.
Alban Bagbin, who also doubles as the Majority Leader of Parliament, disclosed he had contributed an amount of GH₵ 107, 000.00 from his own coffers towards the school’s infrastructure development.
Currently, McCoy College of Education has seven structures with a school population of 231 to its credit.
Rev. Fr. Yelletuo sharing his views recounted that in 1995 a synod of the people of the Catholic Diocese of Wa had conceived the idea to establish a college of education to augment the only two teacher training colleges in the region, and to build a stronger educational foundation in the Nadowli District, in particular.
But the decision, according to the Rev. Fr.Yelletuo remained only an idea till 2011 when the then Emeritus Bishop Paul Bemile decided to take concrete steps to turn the synod’s idea into a reality leading to the establishment of McCoy College of education.
He further stated, “and so we contacted the member of parliament, (MP) Hon. Alban Bagbin, as one of the significant fellows from the onset, and he referred us to the then District Chief Executive (DCE) Hon. Abu K. K; and the collaboration of the two worked very well and so they gave us a three unit classroom block and a dormitory block with four rooms.”
However, the College started at Wanye Spiritual Renewal Centre “because that was the facility we showed to the accreditation board for certification in order to run the college as a tertiary institution,” Fr. Yelletuo stated.
But within a short time, the college began to face space constraint, and so the need to move to the permanent site “and that was when the Hon. MP came in a full swing to give us electricity, a mechanized borehole with poly tanks for water, and co-financed the building of the administration block”.
Enumerating woes of the school in an interview, Rev. Yelletuo noted the school could only admit 60 students this academic year due to inadequacy of space calling on government to come to the aid of the school with provision of assembly hall, dining hall, playground and a fence wall round the campus which is currently lacking.
Meanwhile, District Chief Executive Officer (DCE) of the area, John-Bosco Bomansan, who confirmed the veracity of the story to newsmen, in interview said “indeed the Hon. MP has been so good.”
By Joseph Kobla Wemakor|Wa|Ghana