West Gonja District Leads The ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ With Massive Developments

The West Gonja District, the largest district in the Northern Region, is leading the Better Ghana Agenda with the execution of massive developmental projects in the sectors of Education, Health, Roads, Water and Sanitation, Security, Women Empowerment, Agriculture and Youth Empowerment among other critical areas within the three and half years since the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration took office in January 2009.

Speaking to The Republic yesterday, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Hon. Adam Mutawakilu, revealed that the people of the West Gonja District are witnessing unprecedented developments under his leadership.

“Under education, the District has constructed over thirty classroom blocks and teachers' quarters. This has resulted in the rapid elimination of schools under trees where 98% of the schools under trees have been accommodated. Various expansion works are still ongoing to accommodate the increase in enrollment in most of the existing schools”, he said

The DCE who is also the Parliamentary candidate for the yet-to-be approved Damango Constituency on the ticket of the NDC added that maternal mortality rate and congestion at the Damango Health Center has been drastically reduced due to the construction of an Out Patients Department (OPD), Maternity Ward and a fence wall. The District also saw the construction of Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds at Kagbal and Larabanga and the rehabilitation of Kotito No.3 CHPS compound as well as the CHPS facilities in three other communities; these have helped to tremendously improve health care delivery.

According to him, over 800 farmers have been supported with fertilizers and seeds under the Youth in Agriculture module of the NYEP in the District with 19% of them being women. Food crops, especially maize, have since been produced in large quantities due to this intervention thereby helping to increase food production and improving on the livelihoods of the farmers and their households.

Hon. Mutawakilu stated that the deplorable road networks in the area stretching from Larabanga through Bawena to Daboya, which hitherto affected the free transportation of people and goods and services, have undergone construction and reshaping. Construction works have also started on the 98mile Fufulso-Damango-Sawla road which is a major road network in the District linking various farming communities.

The Damango Constituency NDC Parliamentary candidate mentioned other developmental projects undertaken under his tenure including improvements in access to water to the people and also his personal involvement in collaborating with some NGOs by helping women in the District to form 80 co-operative groups. The weekly contributions from members of the co-operatives are given back to them as soft loans to expand their businesses which he said “has reduced the pressure on MASLOC loans”

He stated that the electorates would massively vote for him to represent them in Parliament come December 7th because he has shown faith and goodwill to them ever since he has been appointed to serve them as their DCE.

“The people are not going to vote for President John Mahama because he was born at Damango, his mandate will be renewed because of the good works our party, the NDC, has done for Ghana especially to the people of the West Gonja District in just a little over three years. Trust me, it is a one-touch victory for the NDC”, he added.

Hon. Mutawakilu appealed to Ghanaians to exercise restraint in their utterances and actions especially on political issues as the nation draws near the presidential and parliamentary elections so as to avoid conflicts and chaos which are likely to undermine the quest for peace in our efforts at consolidating the gains of the country's young democracy.