From Samuel Agbewode
The Krachi West District Assembly has initiated a number of projects to ensure the rapid development of the area, ranging from health to education as these sectors top list on the development agenda of the Assembly, attracting the Krachi Traditional Council to give its support to achieving the development goals.
This includes the construction of roads and provision of water to deprived communities to give a facelift to the district capital and make life more comfortable for the people.
As a result of the effective coordination between the District Assembly and the Traditional Council, the chiefs have provided GH¢40,000 to the Assembly at the time the it was handicapped in mobilising to start a Midwifery Training College, which is currently functioning effectively, at the district capital Kete-Krachi.
Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle at Kete-Krachi, the Krachi West District Chief Executive, Mr. Moses Kwame Ponyeh, said the Traditional Council continues to support the Assembly to ensure that the new Midwifery Training College meets the required standards, by freely releasing the community library and community center all at Kete Krachi to the college.
Mr. Ponyeh stressed that the interest shown by the Traditional Council made it possible for the chiefs to release 80 acres of land under the authority of the Krachiwura, Nana Mprah Besemuna III, for the permanent site of the college.
The Assembly, in consultation with the Volta Regional Directorate of Health, has started to develop the land by building hostel facilities and classrooms to enable the college relocate to its permanent site.
The DCE disclosed that for the past two years, the Assembly dedicated 90 percent of its internally generated funds to support the establishment of the Midwifery Training College, and that it had provided free accommodation for the lecturers, while the Ministry of Health was providing pavilions for the Diploma in Midwifery to add up to the post basic certificate in Midwifery.
Mr. Ponyeh also disclosed that the Assembly, in consultation with the Regional Directorate of Health, would provide additional structures to enable the college introduce general nursing programmes next year, to address the problem of inadequate nurses in the district.
SANITATION
Touching on sanitation, Mr. Ponyeh said the people, by their culture, always maintain clean environments, and that Kete-Krachi had its gutters very neat, as well as other communities that make up of the District.
He further said that the Assembly had no problem relating to poor sanitation practices that would lead to the people experiencing cholera, as some major cities like Accra were facing.
Mr. Ponyeh emphasised that even though sanitation issues in the District were highly satisfactory, the Assembly had not relaxed, but continues to educate the people on the need to maintain the sound sanitation practices.
This is being carried on a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) local FM station at Kete-Krachi.
He noted that the district capital was one of the neatest in the region, as choked gutters and heaps of refuse could not be seen anywhere.
The DCE commended the chiefs and people in the area for adhering to professional advice from the health authorities, stressing that it was important for people to take their health needs more seriously, because it was only when the people were in good health that productivity would increase, and they would contribute meaningfully to the development of the area.
EDUCATION
The DCE disclosed that the Assembly was in consultation with the government, the chiefs and other stakeholders to establish a College of Education at Kete-Krachi as a way of attracting teachers and retaining them in the area.
He said that the College of Education would ensure that citizens who reside in the district would be sponsored, and upon completion, would be prepared to stay and work in the district.
Mr. Ponyeh noted that the greatest challenge confronting the district was the teacher-pupil ratio, but recently, the Regional Directorate of Education sent 49 newly-trained teachers to the area, but still, some of them refuse to accept posting to the District because of the remote nature of the area.
He believed that when a College of Education was establishment in the district the problem would be solved.
He explained that the district has 4 circuits, 46 kindergartens (KG), 44 primary schools, 16 Junior High Schools, and two Senior High Schools.
The government, through the District Assembly, was able to provide adequate classroom accommodation for schools, but still there were some still operating under trees, which the Assembly would soon address.
According to the DCE, most of the teacher-trainees at the Dambai College of Education in the Krachi East District feared even crossing the pontoon at Dambai, let alone travel to the Krachi West District, therefore, upon completion of their courses would not accept posting to the District.
Mr. Ponyeh announced that parents in many of the island communities had taken their children to other towns, including the district capital, Kete-Krachi, a development he said made it possible for the assembly to build three six-unit classroom blocks at Dzilakope, Tokpo and Betinase to enable the children stay and attend school, while with their parents on the islands.
He, however, expressed concern about the attitude of parents who rent single rooms in communities outside the islands for their children to go to school, because these parents fail to monitor the activities of their children.
He explained that most of these children normally engaged in premarital sex, which resulted in teenage pregnancy, as well as the boys also engaging in many social vices which affects their education.
Mr. Ponyeh mentioned that the Member of Parliament for Krachi West and Volta Regional Minister, Madam Helen Adwoa Ntoso, was very interested in activities that would promote education in the area, and had been providing exercise books and mathematical sets to pupils and students in the area, to ensure that education goes on smoothly.