President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reaffirmed government’s commitment to improving the well-being of the people in the Bono East Region and the country at large.
He said on assumption of office, he assured the good people of Ghana to focus on their welfare, and would, thus, not relent in pursuing such a laudable agenda to ensure its successful achievement.
Kintampo North Municipality
President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance when he addressed the chiefs and people of the Kintampo North Municipality to mark the start of his two-day working visit to the Bono East Region.
The visit was to commend the people for trusting him with a second term in government and to have first-hand information about their welfare, he said.
He expressed the hope that the building, built for the dispensation of justice, would be maintained to serve and promote justice and fairness and sustain the peace in the area and the region at large.
He reiterated his government’s commitment to improving the welfare of the citizenry, saying the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government under his leadership would continue to promote the livelihood conditions of the populace.
That, President Akufo-Addo said, was being achieved through the proactive and efficient implementation of pragmatic policies and programmes for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
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In response to a number of requests earlier made by the chiefs and people of the area about the provision of some social amenities like road networks, health and education facilities, the President assured to liaise with the sector ministries to address those concerns.
The President also wanted to know the progress being made regarding the implementation of socio-economic development projects in the region.
He said the municipality was noted for its high cashew cultivation, and pledged to continue to support farmers with inputs and materials to boost their business.
Fully furnished dual court complex commissioned
President Akufo-Addo commissioned a fully furnished dual court complex building in Kintampo.
The contract for the construction of the court complex was awarded on April 19, 2019 at a cost of GH¢865,527.01, and was completed in November last year.
The complex, which is a dual court complex, will house the municipal court and an additional court to be determined by the Chief Justice.
The construction of this complex forms part of deliberate measures being put in place by the Akufo-Addo government to ensure ease of access to law courts, to advance the rule of law in the country.
It will be recalled that in his State of the Nation Address on March 9, 2021, President Akufo-Addo revealed that government, through the Ministry of Local Government and the District Assemblies’ Common Fund, had commenced, in an unprecedented initiative, the construction of 90 courts with accompanying accommodation for judges across the country, to help address the problem of inadequate court infrastructure.
These structures, he intimated, are at advanced stages of completion.
Additionally, the President, in April this year, cut the sod for the construction of a permanent, modern Court of Appeal complex in Kumasi, which will help improve the justice delivery system for the northern sector of the country.
Again, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Local Government and the District Assemblies’ Common Fund, 20 townhouses and a guesthouse are being built to be used as permanent residences for Court of Appeal judges based in Kumasi who will be mandated to handle cases in the northern part of the country.
Once completed, it will mean that appeals from the Upper West, Upper East, Savannah, North East, Northern, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Western North and Ashanti regions will be conveniently heard within a much shorter period.
Nana Adjei Adinkra II
Nana Adjei Adinkra, the paramount chief of Mo Traditional Area, on behalf of the chiefs in the municipality, commended President Akufo-Addo for his high sense of creativity, initiative and introduction of pragmatic policies and programmes that had positively impacted the livelihoods of the people.
“We, the chiefs and people of Kintampo, remain indebted to you for the good work that you have done in our municipality, through your good policies, programmes and projects in the various sectors of the economy, all aimed at improving the lives of our people. Your flagship policies easily come to mind,” he said.
According to the Krontihene, the flagship policies have had a tremendous impact on the lives and livelihoods of the people of Kintampa include the Programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which, he explained, has “made fertilisers and seeds available to our farmers, leading to increase in yields.”
Nana Adinkra II indicated that Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), another flagship programme of the Akufo-Addo government, has ensured that cashew farmers in the Kintampo Municipality have been supported with the free distribution of 100,000 cashew seedlings.
“Equally worthy of mention under your flagship policies is the Free Senior High School programme, in which two public schools in the municipality – Kintampo Senior High School and New Longoro Senior High School – are benefiting. Again, the swift response you deployed to address the infrastructure deficit in Kintampo Senior High School following the implementation of the programme is very much appreciated,” he added.
The Kintampo chief cited the 12-unit block, with a six-seater toilet facility and a single-storey dormitory block, under the Emergency GETFund Projects across the country, as examples of projects that have been constructed and completed to bridge the infrastructure gap in these senior high schools.
He thanked President Akufo-Addo for the location of the regional health directorate in Kintampo, which is in fulfilment of his promise not to concentrate all decentralised institutions in the newly created regions in the capitals.
“The construction of a mango juice processing factory at Habitat, a suburb in Kintampo, is in line with the ‘One District, One Factory’ (1D1F) programme, under the Rural Enterprise Project.
“This project will provide our teeming unemployed youth with jobs when the project is finally completed. Similarly, the assembly, in collaboration with PRODESOP, an NGO, and with funding from the European Union, has also constructed a ginger processing factory at Chiranda,” Nana Adinkra II said.
He continued, “The construction of a business resource centre under the same REP within the assembly’s premises will provide business support and the needed entrepreneurial skills to small businesses in the municipality. We are, indeed, grateful for that.”
The Krontihene also acknowledged the grading and routine maintenance works which were carried out on selected roads under the Department of Urban Roads in 2020, adding that, “The same year also witnessed the construction of about 500 metres of roads in Kintampo Zongo township under the Zongo Development Fund. This is a landmark achievement under your government.”
He also noted that two ambulances; the construction of an office complex for the Fire Service at Kintampo; the construction of CHPS compounds at Kyeremankuma, Atta Akura and Kawampe; the drilling and mechanisation of 20 boreholes across the municipality; the construction of a three-unit classroom block for the Girls Model School in Kintampo; the construction of a three-unit classroom block at Kadelso; and the extension of electricity to remote villages in the municipality as other examples of projects undertaken by government.
Nana Kwadwo Nyarko III at Pru West District
At Pru West District of the Bono East Region, Nana Kwadwo Nyarko III, paramount chief of the Prang Traditional Area, expressed his gratitude to the President for establishing a starch processing factory in his district under the ‘One District, One Factory’ initiative.
In his speech following the President’s visit to his palace, Nana Nyarko III expressed his profound joy and appreciation to the President for the establishment of the factory.
According to the chief, “Pru West District is a proud host of a gigantic starch processing factory that we are confident that very soon you will be back with us again to commission. Personally, I feel proud and privileged to see such a project in my lifetime.”
Nana Nyarko III continued, “Since ascending the throne as the paramount chief of Prang, it has been my desire to attract industries and companies to my area, which would become my legacy by posterity. Lo and behold, Mr President, now I can say that this long-burning desire and dream has become a reality in my lifetime. The youth will be employed and hopefully vices will reduce.”
The paramount chief also thanked the President for solving the perennial water shortages that have plagued the traditional area.
“Mr President, as part of improving the perennial water shortage that was a nightmare in Prang, you have successfully constructed the Prang Small Town Pipe Water System Project. The people of Prang now have running water in their homes all year round,” he said.
He also indicated that several mechanised boreholes and hand pumps have also been constructed across the district, supplying potable water to the people in Pru West.
The chief was also full of praises for President Akufo-Addo for ensuring that, under his government, “Pru West District has witnessed historic developments across the district which includes all the governmental flagship programmes; first under your able leadership, Pru West constituency was made a district on 15th March, 2018. This was after several years of failed attempts. It was a dream come true for us,” he stressed.
Touching on agriculture, the paramount chief noted that the Pru West District has received two farm tractors and other farm implements, and has started an Agriculture Mechanisation Centre, which is helping farmers plough their fields at subsidised rates.
“Mr President, with the Free SHS education programme, Planting for Food and Jobs, and Planting for Exports and Rural Development, my people, who are mostly farmers, are grateful to you”, he added.
Thanking President Akufo-Addo for siting an office of a state institution in the district, the Prang chief stated that “we are grateful, once more, that you were generous to make Pru West District the host of an ultra-modern regional office of the Department of Feeder Roads. The construction of the two-storey office complex is fully completed and we understand that you are here today to commission it. We say thank you, and God bless you.”
On the fight against COVID-19, he congratulated the President on the “remarkable leadership” shown in the battle to defeat the disease.
“It is without doubt your industrious leadership efforts and abilities have earned you the chairmanship of ECOWAS, and I must say that through your dedication and commitment to duty, we shall defeat the pandemic. This too shall pass”, he stressed.
With the pandemic having ravaged even the most resourced countries, Nana Nyarko III said “we are certainly very fortunate that Ghana has you as our President and leader in these very trying times.”
Acknowledging the inclusion of the Pru West District as a beneficiary of ‘Agenda 111’, in which a district hospital will be constructed for the area, he indicated that “a team of consultants from Accra have already visited the site to undertake an assessment of the land provided for the construction of the district hospital. I know we will soon be commissioning the district hospital and will no longer have to travel to Atebubu or Mampong to access healthcare.”
President Akufo-Addo assured of the provision of effective security to check armed robbery and other crimes, which create insecurity in the Pru West and surrounding districts of the Bono Region.
He said the security agencies were working to improve the security situation in the country that would be boosted by the ongoing recruitment of police personnel to protect lives and property.
Touching on agriculture, he pledged his government’s continued support to farmers through the provision of farming inputs and materials to boost the industry and encourage more Ghanaians to go into agriculture.
President Akufo-Addo later inaugurated a state-of-the-art building to house the Regional Directorate of Feeder Roads in the town.
Constructed at a cost of GH¢3.8 million (GH¢3,831,826.86), the completion of the administration block is in fulfilment of a pledge made by the President to decentralise the siting of state institutions in various parts of the newly created regions, instead of the capital, which has always been the norm.
Source: The Finder