Assembly forms taskforce to check illegal sand winning

The Gomoa East District Assembly has formed a taskforce to check illegal sand winning in the area to avoid land degradation, Mr M.C. Jewell Joseph Annan, District Chief Executive(DCE) said on Friday.

He said the formation of the taskforce was to curb the fast land degradation in the area and to explore avenues for revenue generation for the Assembly.

Mr Annan was addressing journalists at Gomoa Afransi to assess his 100 days of assumption of office as DCE.

The DCE said the sand winners had taken undue advantage to exploit the land and that they had also refused to reclaim the areas they had so far damaged.

Mr Annan mentioned some of the towns where large tracks of land had been degraded as Gomoa Mpota, Postin, Dominase, Ojobi, Dabayin and Broyeduru.

He said the Assembly would not look on unconcerned for some unscrupulous people to destroy the environment for their parochial interests.

The DCE stated that the Assembly's major challenges were inadequate internally generation funds, chieftaincy disputes and accommodation for senior and junior staff of the Ghana Education Service (GES).

He noted that rent allowances had been sharply increased by the landlords and landladies at Gomoa Afransi adding for instance that a chamber and hall which were rented for three Ghana cedis had been increased to 20 Ghana cedis.

Mr Annan said the Assembly had spent 10,000 Ghana cedis to purchase a building for the GES Directorate to enable them work effectively.

He said an award scheme had been instituted by the Assembly for teachers who would perform creditably to serve as motivation to encourage them to put up their best to improve academic standards.

He noted that the Assembly had procured 250 low tension poles, 500 bags of cement, 50 packets of roofing sheets and 400 street bulbs for the extension of electricity, rehabilitation of schools and streetlights in some of the towns.

Mr Annan said about 13 kilo meters of roads at Gomoa Dahom and Fetteh Kakaraba-Nkwantanan had been reshaped, while 15 kilo meters was also being reshaped to make them accessible for farmers to send their produce to market centres.