The controversial Ghana Award House project is receiving donations from all and sundry and the Duke of Edinburgh is the latest on the list to support the initiative.

The Head of State Award Scheme’s newly proposed building budget came under heavy criticism after the government gave the entity GH¢5 million to fund the project.

But the Executive Director Peter Akai Anum insists the initiative “is always a priority because we have to prepare the young people for the future.”

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Tuesday he revealed “the Duke of Edinburgh is giving us 45,000 pounds.”

Prince Philip, however, sadly passed on April 9, so we’ll anticipate the next line of action.

Mr Anum said the two-storey building, hopefully, should be completed in thirty-six weeks.

Addressing criticisms over the necessity of the building amidst the energy, education crisis the country is going through he said “as a country, it’s good for people to think the building is not a priority but as a charity organization like us that’s into youth development, we think it’s a priority.”

“The Ghana Award House initially was to be a hostel to feed into the universities so we were looking at an eight-storey building but we cut down to 2 because we didn’t get the funding needed.”

He revealed that “the building is a two-storey with a boardroom, training area, and offices. Currently, we have 11 staff but the plan is to increase the number of staff and the number of people we train. The Ghana Award House is a move to give a facelift to where we operate now.”

He disclosed that his office has been working from a wooden structure in the GNAT hall

“HOSA engages students between the ages of 14-24 years to learn beyond the classroom on a do-it-yourself basis within a period. Any place with young people between ages between 14 and 24 can partake in the program.”