It has emerged that the Sculpture Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is responsible for producing wrong Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II’s statue which has sparked controversy and outrage in Kumasi and other towns in the Ashanti Region.
The Sculpture Department of KNUST which did shoddy work on the revered Asante King’s statue situated inside the new Kejetia Market was shamed by the Consultant in an interview monitored by MyNewsGh.com.
Exposing the contract deal in the interview, he said the contract was awarded to KNUST Sculpture Department upon Manhyia’s approval, due to the confidence reposed in them by Manhyia Palace in view of the fact the King is the Chancellor.
The Consultant for the Brazilian engineering and construction firm, Messrs Contracta Engineering Limited which built the new Kejetia market disclosed that Manhyia okayed the wrong statue produced by students at the KNUST sculpture department, hence its unveiling last week.
“From the beginning of the project we got a green light from Manhyia before we awarded the contract to the KNUST sculpture department. Manhyia was involved in every stage until its completion. Let me tell you we couldn’t have unveiled the statue if Manhyia is dissatisfied with the work,’’ the Consultant explained.
The Consultant was forced to come out to mention the sculptor behind the wrong statue after accusing fingers were pointed at him by some Kumasi angry residents who are calling for the pull down of the statue.
The angry Kumasi residents wondered the kind of supervision from the KNUST sculpture department’s lecturers to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) officials and Manhyia Palace that went into the statue before its unveiling last week Wednesday in Kumasi.
They took to the airwaves on Thursday and Friday to blast the Consultant for the shoddy work but in a twist, he said he cannot be blamed for the wrong statue but the Manhyia Palace which has been part of the stages of the statue should rather be blamed.
The Consultant asserted that the statue can be viewed wrongly depending on the angle one stands justifying that it looks exactly as the Otumfuo if the person stands afar.
“Otumfuo’s statue may look misrepresented to you depending on where you are picturing it from, if you stand close to it you might think it is not him but, if you stand afar you will realise that is Otumfuo,’’ he said.
Source: mynewsgh.com
