Atta Mills Library contractor threatens legal action if...

The contractor who worked on the Atta Mills Library has threatened to take legal action to enable him to take over the facility if his outstanding certificate of work is not honoured by the close of this month.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic last Saturday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mamphey Developers Limited, Mr Joseph Kojo Mamphey, said: “If the government wants to drag its feet, we will go to court and seek legal mandate to run the facility and recoup our money.”

He said the company had an outstanding certificate of work which was prepared by the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL) in December 2016 but which had not been honoured.

Mr Mamphey, however, declined to give details of how much the company was owed and the total cost of the Atta Mills Library project.

“We will seize the facility (Atta Mills Library) and use it for the intended purpose to recoup the substantial amount owed us. We want to leave a legacy for generations yet unborn,” he said.

No funds

Commenting on the Atta Mills Library project, the Central Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan, said the government would not release funds to support the library because the facility was purely a private enterprise to immortalise the late President Mills.

He said because the Atta Mills Library was a private initiative, just like the President Kufuor and the President Rawlings foundations, no government funds would be released to run it.

But the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said he had had a discussion with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who had agreed that there must be a budget line for the Atta Mills Library.

Library closed down

Meanwhile, the Atta Mills Library has been closed down for lack of funds to run it.

Currently, the UCC, which is responsible for the administration of the library, has not been able to pay the water and electricity bills of the facility.

To make matters worse, the contractor who worked on the project is said to have locked up the place and taken the keys away, denying the university access to the two-storey building situated opposite the Cape Coast Castle.

When the Daily Graphic visited the imposing facility, the huge gate at the entrance had been shut, with only one security man at post.

Due to its proximity to the sea, portions of the Atta Mills Library had started rusting.