Consult Communities before sitting projects … Baffuor Awuah advises DCEs

THE BRONG-AHAFO Regional Minister, Mr. Ignatius Baffour Awuah has entreated the various municipal and district assemblies as well as development partners in the region, to consult beneficiary communities before siting infrastructural projects in their areas.

He further proposed that beneficiary communities should be made to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to guarantee full utilization of such projects.

The Minister's proposal comes in the wake of rampant abandoning of infrastructural projects by some communities in the region, who usually attribute their action to location of the projects.

Mr. Awuah's suggestion followed an observation made by a journalist at the region's turn of meet-the-press series held in Sunyani. In his presentation, after giving a brief history of the region and the vision of the

Brong-Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council (BARCC), the Minister touched on issues bothering education, health, infrastructural development, environmental management, women and development, agriculture, tourism, security and the way forward for the region.

He happily noted that the region, which had only thirteen administrative districts before the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) government assumed office,
could now boast of  twenty-two, with seven of them elevated to municipal status, namely Sunyani, Kintampo North, Techiman, Wenchi, Dormaa West, Asunafo North and Berekum Municipalities. This, he believed, would
accelerate development in the region.

On education, Mr. Awuah said all the various Senior High Schools selected under the model school project had transformed from their mediocre states to modern Secondary Schools comparable to any of the well-endowed ones.

Mr. Awuah also bemoaned the stagnated academic performance in the region, particularly at the basic level, despite the efforts and resources being committed into the sector. He observed that in the Basic Education
Certificate Examination (BECE) results, the region had for the past three years stood around 65%.

He therefore called on all stakeholders in the education sector to as a matter of importance come on board and map out strategies to ensure that the
investment made in the children by government and parents alike were not wasted.

The Minister identified Tourism as one of the major potentials of the region that needed to be harnessed to effect development in the region. He consequently urged the private sector to invest in the development of the abundant tourists sites in the region.

The guinea worm cases in the region, according to him, dropped from two hundred and four in 2004 to forty-two in 2007, explaining that thirty-three out of the total cases recorded in 2007, representing 79% were successfully contained. He reiterated the government's commitment to eradicate guinea worm infestation in the region and the country at large by providing safe
drinking water to the affected areas.

Mr. Awuah mentioned bushfires, illegal chainsaw activities and poor waste management as some of the major environmental problems confronting the region.

The Minister for Information and National Orientation, Hon. Asamoah Boateng commended the media practitioners in the region for playing their watchdog role while they contribute their quota towards nation building.