Focus on Atwima Nwabiagya District

Nana Asare Bediako, DCE For Atwima Nwabiagya

The Atwima Nwabiagya District shares a boundary with the Kumasi Metropolis at its southern part, and because of its proximity to Kumasi, some of its major towns and villages like Abuakwa, Sapase and others, are seen as busy places suitable for business.

The Ashanti File, during a visit to the area, observed that most of the revenue accrued by the Atwima Nwabiagya District Assembly (ANDA) comes from the peri-urban areas of the district, which also has the largest assembly of poultry farms.

Notably among the poultry farms are Topman Farms and Darko Farms among others, and this industry, according to the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, Nana Asare Bediako, serves as a source of employment for the people of the area, and for the Kumasi Metropolis as well.

In an interview with Nana Asare Bediako, he told the Ashanti File that the Nwabiagya District was one of the last districts to have a DCE since the present government to over the administration of this country.

According to him, it took close to six months, after almost all the districts in the country and the Ashanti Region in particular, had their DCEs appointed, before the district had one.

The Chief Executive disclosed that after he assumed office, developments in the area were lagging behind, because there was no substantive DCE to oversee affairs, and this called for expedited action to catch up with other districts, which had already taken the lead for almost six months.

Nana Asare Bediako indicated that where his colleagues took one step, he has to make twice that, adding, with the help of the staff and members of the Assembly, they were able to move forward with massive developmental projects.

Priority projects that needed immediate attention when he took office, according to the DCE, had to be tackled, naming some of the projects as the completion of the Nkawie and Abuakwa markets, mechanisation of wells for Nkawie and Abotium, construction of a six-classroom block at Hyiaw-Besease, and teachers' quarters at Ahwia and Ntabano, all in the district.

The estimated cost of the markets was GH¢299,539.16, whilst the wells mechanisation cost the assembly GH¢21,356.80.

Beneficiaries of the assembly's massive developmental projects include the Nkawie Secondary Technical School, and Osei Tutu Senior High School, where two-storey buildings are being put up.

Empowerment of the youth in the area of agriculture to ensure self-sufficiency of food in the district, according to Nana Asare Bediako, was one of the priority areas the assembly had embarked upon.

He said block farming in the cultivation of rice at Afari, and other parts of the district, was currently in progress, disclosing that to ensure a market, it would purchase the produce for supply to the various schools in the area, particularly, for the School Feeding Programme.

The DCE told the Ashanti File that almost all the internally generated funds (IGF) was used to do fund projects, and also for the evacuation of some refuse dumps that were causing health hazards to the effected communities.

Among some of the refuse dumps were at Abuakwa, Asoromanso, Nyamebekyere, and Koforidua.

Apart from using the IGF for the evacuation of the dumps, Nana Asare disclosed that feeder roads at Nkakuom, Nkawie Panin, Fakomawie-Nkorang had also benefited from the fund, which was used to reshape these roads.