The terrible road to the Kanokware community
IN the middle of a thick forest in northern Aiyinase, a popular cocoa farming area in Nzema, which is 15 kilometres away from Nkroful, hometown of Ghana's first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, lies a deplorable road leading to Kanokware, a community densely populated by farmers.
The muddy and bumpy road is characterised by deep potholes, forcing drivers to swing their vehicles across the road in a zigzag manner.
The drivers tumble about in the vehicles together with their passengers, as they boil in anger, succumbing to the frustrations of the over one hour stressful journey to the small community, which is economically viable for national development.
Kanokware, a Fante dominated community, passes for tourist attraction. A journey to and from this community does not only serve the purpose of reminding one of the spirit of hopelessness that resonates in the rural communities, but makes one aware of the urgency needed to tackle avalanche of challenges confronting the chiefs and people of Nzema, the Western Region, and Mother Ghana.
Poverty is very visible on the way to Kanokware, as you meet hardworking cocoa farmers carrying firewood, cassava, plantain and other farm produce to nearby communities barefooted to either sell and or consume..
Stress builds up and tiredness sets in as you travel along the road, which is described by the hardworking cocoa farmers, as deplorable, terrible and horrible.
Inhabited by over 500 Fantes, one of the well known coastal tribes in Ghana, the people of Kanokware live in a quagmire.
The overwhelming challenges binding the area to poverty, they believe, could be brought under control or lessened. if the road from Ayinase, Asasetre to Kanokware is constructed, with all cocoa communities in northern Ayinase linked.
The deplorable road, they told the Western File, is currently holding back the growth of the whole of northern Aiyinase. They believe it equally holds the social key to effective transportation in the area, and remains the window of hope and opportunity for the drastic economic transformation of the area.
To them, farming in the area could become even more productive, and the nation saved millions of cedis, as cocoa that hitherto, had been allowed to rot in the farms, could begin seeing the light of the day, since the farmers would get access to the market centers to sell their produce, should the road be constructed
Beyond that, the lack of adequate infrastructure in the area, social services, and basic social amenities such as potable drinking water, toilets, and electricity have not been considered debilitating enough to provoke their anger, as they continue to live happily.
They rely heavily on streams, while awaiting the repairs of a damaged borehole which was constructed for them by the government a few years back.
The farmers are content with the Kanokware DA Primary School, the only education center producing scholars, as it continues to provide education for their wards.
They are equally happy sharing the single toilet facility, a Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP) with the school children.
Their request to be connected to the national grid, which was granted in December last year, has made electricity possible in the community, granting them the license to entertainment, as they get access to television and cold water to quench their thirsts.
Nonetheless, the only school in the area (Kanokware DA Primary School) caters for children from nearby by communities such as Atababo, Old Sanfo, New Sanfo, and Fiasolo, who have to travel about three kilometers on a daily basis to the learning center, obviously forms enough basis for the farmers to continue their call on the government to do something about their plight.
If you chance upon these children on their journey to school, you cannot help, but shed tears, as you make your journey over the broken down Fiakple bridge to the area.
However, for Samuel and Benjamin Asante, indigenes of Kanokware, who were born and raised in this community, the situation has improved tremendously. They believe it was worse in the past.
To them, the challenges of the community in the past was beyond comprehension, especially, when they were growing up, and narrated how they struggled with their parents in this forest area to become graduates of the Takoradi Polytechnic.
The remaining challenges of the community, established in 1965, they noted, now provides the audacity of hope for hard work and perseverance. They struggled with the challenges, but through commitment, determination and hard work, they managed to educate themselves, and had since remained shining examples for pupils in the community.
Samuel Asante, the elder of the two, who teaches at Ayinase, told the Western File he spends most of his holidays in the community to inspire others. His brother, who is currently doing his national service, was also in the community recently for a brief visit.
The Chief of the community, Nana James Duku, is grateful to the government for assisting Kanokware with a school and an electricity project among others, but was unhappy with the deplorable state of the road, which at the same time, connects all the cocoa growing communities in Nzema.
Interestingly, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ellembelle Constituency, Mr. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, who has spent two years in parliament as a first time legislator, and is currently the Deputy Minister for Energy, has decided to lobby for projects to open up the cocoa farming communities in his constituency.
Anticipating high economic yields with the availability of good roads and infrastructure, the MP has vowed to push further for central government, the local government, and stakeholders in the Ellembelle district to link the area to market centers in the Western Region.
He has provided them with electricity, through the government rural electrification project, promised them potable drinking water, and recently visited the area with the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo, to cut the sod for the construction of part of the road, beginning this year.
An ecstatic community responded to the good news of the presence of government officials in the community.
They poured out in their numbers to meet the District Chief Executive, Mr. Daniel K. Eshun, and Mr. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, in the company of the Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo, the Regional Coordinating Director of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Mr. David Yaro, with cheers, and waving handkerchiefs.
The Regional Minister could not hide his feelings at the warm reception, so much that he confessed at a mini durbar the ordeal and terrible experience the team had traveling on the road.
The Minister summed up the feeling of the entourage. 'In fact, the tormenting experience of the journey to this community would compel anyone who has ever traveled on the road to speak the truth, as the name of your community directly implies in Fante. It is indeed, terrible,' he stated.
Mr. Aidoo said the media in Ghana could do the nation good, by exposing the difficulties and challenges that communities in the country, such as Kanokware, go through to survive.