{
  "id": 10492073,
  "title": "Desks rotting in abandoned Kintampo South E-Block: A decade of neglect and a waste of state resources",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/desks-rotting-in-abandoned-kintampo-south-e-block-a-decade-of-neglect-10492073",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-28T16:38:28.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/desks-rotting-in-abandoned-kintampo-south-e-block-a-decade-of-neglect-and-a-waste-of-state-resources/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the rural village of Anyima, nestled within the Kintampo South District of Ghana's Bono East Region, a sight of desolation awaits. The Community Day Senior High School, envisioned and initiated by the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2016 as part of the E-Blocks project, remains incomplete a decade after its construction commenced. However, the true horror lies within the abandoned building. Within the unfinished classrooms, thousands of wooden desks, procured by the government and brought to the site during initial construction, lie in disrepair. These desks, purchased with taxpayer funds, are rotting away, their wood cracking, dust and cobwebs collecting, and termites gradually devouring them. Across the region, students continue to suffer in overcrowded classrooms, sitting on bare floors or sharing broken furniture, yearning for the very desks that now gather dust in Anyima. The story of the Anyima E-Block echoes a widespread issue across Ghana. In 2016, the NDC government introduced the Community Day Senior High School programme, colloquially known as E-Blocks, aiming to increase secondary education access in underprivileged areas. Contractors were engaged, foundations dug, walls erected. Yet, with the NDC's loss of power to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 2016 general elections, the project's political momentum dissipated. Contractors deserted the sites, funding ceased, and in Anyima, the endeavor halted. Ten years later, the structure stands as a skeleton, with parts of the roof missing, walls stained by relentless rainfall, and classrooms now filled with decaying furniture. For residents of Ampoma and neighboring communities, the situation is an affront. During a recent inspection tour led by the Bono East Regional Minister, Francis Owusu Antwi, expressed his indignation. \"This is purely a case of causing financial loss to the state,\" he declared, surrounded by the crumbling desks. \"For ten years, these desks have remained unused while schools in our region are left without them. This is unacceptable.\" The minister pointed out that the desks could have alleviated the infrastructure deficit in surrounding schools if they had been distributed upon realizing the project's non-completion timeline. \"We have schools where children are forced to sit on the floor. Schools where three or four students share a single desk. Here, we have thousands of desks deteriorating. It makes no sense,\" he lamented.",
  "summary": "In the quiet farming community of Anyima, in the Kintampo South District of the Bono East Region, a grim monument to broken promises stands silently.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Adom Online",
        "title": "Desks rotting in abandoned Kintampo South E-Block: A decade of neglect and a waste of state resources",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/desks-rotting-in-abandoned-kintampo-south-e-block-a-decade-of-neglect",
        "published": "2026-09-28T16:53:40.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}