Mim Cries For Development Projects

Even though it serves as the largest populated and leading industrial centre in the whole of the Brong Ahafo Region, Mim in the Asunafo North District continues to suffer some development setbacks at the hands of successive governments.

Since time immemorial, Mim, which is the biggest town in the whole of the Ahafo area, has virtually received no development intervention from governments, thereby making the area one of the underdeveloped towns in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Against this backdrop, the Paramount Chief of the Mim Traditional Area, Nana Yaw Agyei II, has expressed disappointment at the way and manner governments had totally neglected the area.

Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle in reaction to a failed courtesy call on him by the new Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and the Minister of Roads and Highways, Nana Yaw Agyei II was proud that Mim remains the biggest source of revenue for the Asunafo North District Assemby and the Brong Ahafo Region as a whole.

According to the Chief, who is also a Senior Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology (KNUST), the area was also a leader in the production of cocoa, timber, cola, cashew and oil palm, alongside the Ayum Timber Company, Mim Scanstyle Limited, Mim Agro Limited and Mim Cashew Brandy and Bottling Company among a host of other smaller industries.

These companies, he indicated, had brought about a lot of foreign earnings to the region, and had also made the area a centre of attraction for local and international tourists.

The Chief enumerated that every single edifice and amenities the town could boast of were done by the Mim Traditional Council, in collaboration with the various private companies in the area.

The Mim Police Station and quarters, market centres, commercial bank, post office, maternity clinic, Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pits (KVIPs), water pumping stations, street lights, and extension of pipe borne water to some local communities among others, were all done by the community through the initiatives of the Traditional Council.

With a population of over 80,000, Mim has no government hospital to cater for the health needs of the people.

Nana Yaw Agyei II, therefore, called on President John Dramani Mahama and the Minister of Roads and Highways, as well as the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and the Municipal Chief Executive of Asunafo North, to set aside special funding to construct all the internal roads in Mim to merit its stature as the largest industrial hub in the region.

Meanwhile, The Chronicle has learnt that the Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amin Amadu Sulemani, together with the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr. Twumasi Marfo, and the Municipal Chief Executive of Asunafo North, Mohammed Kwaku Doku, were to pay a courtesy call on the Mim Traditional Council last Monday, but the Minister and his team ended up causing great disappointment to the Chiefs.

Confirming this report, Nana Yaw Agyei II said a colourful durbar of all chiefs, queenmothers and odikros was organised by the Mim Traditional Council in honour of the ministers.

However, the traditional rulers sat from 8:30 a.m. till 6:30 p.m. in anticipation of the arrival of the Minister, but he never arrived.

In spite of that, no formal or informal message was received by the chiefs from the Minister or even the MCE.

Because some of the chiefs and their queen mothers were bused from distanced communities, a special arrangement was made by the Traditional Council to feed or refresh them.

Money was spent for the hiring of canopies, chairs, public address system, cultural dancers and snacks for all the chiefs, invited guests and the minister's entourage.

The Chief said he was expecting the MCE to, on behalf of the Minister, come to the Traditional Council to apologise to Nananom, but he rather sent his District Coordinating Director to do so. According to Nana Yaw Agyei, the meeting was crucial to him and his kinsmen, since it was to create the opportunity for him to welcome the new Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, and also present his views on the development challenges confronting Mim and its environs.

He indicated that he was also prepared to take the opportunity to commend the ruling government for the construction of a new bridge at the Ahamadiya Mission Hospital, the road from Mim to Sunyani, and one or two other projects.

The Chief, therefore, appealed to the Minister to reschedule a visit to Mim to have first-hand information about the town.

Efforts by The Chronicle to speak with the Municipal Chief Executive for Asunafo North, Mohammed Kwaku Doku, on why the planned visit by his Ministers did not materializse, and to also find out why Mim had been neglected in the distribution of the national cake, proved unsuccessful.