Give govt free hand to develop country - Negble

Ave-Afiadenyigba, March 28, GNA - Ghanaians have been told to do away with unnecessarily vilifying government over its policies to give it a free hand to govern and develop the country. Mr Nicholas Negble, Akatsi District Chief Executive (DCE) made the call when he addressed a durbar to mark the seventh Bliza, "Maize Festival" of six Ave communities in the Akatsi District at Ave-Afiadenyigba at the weekend.

The communities are, Dakpa, Tagba, Afiadenyigba, Dzadzefe, Havi, and Dzalele.

Mr Negble said government was mindful of the harm policies could cause to its image and would therefore pursue only programmes that would enhance the interest of the country and its citizens.

He decried the continuing outcry and demonstrations against the recent increase in prices of petroleum products and the intended deregulation of the sector, demanding that the organisers presented government with alternative policy directions.

Mr Negble said the state could not continue to subsidise fuel, the price of which was currently at its peak on the world market. "Apart from recovering cost, the country also mobilises the needed revenue to minimise reliance on external donor funding for development through such pricing mechanisms," he stated.

Mr Negble commended the Ave communities for forming the Ave Council of Chiefs, opening an agency of the Unity Rural Bank in the area and starting an education endowment fund for its youth.

He said the District Assembly would, this year, contribute 10 million cedis to the endowment fund, assist the Ave-Dakpa community Senior Secondary School (SSS) with classroom furniture besides the construction of its 320 million cedi student's hostel that the assembly was funding.

Mr Negble announced that a small water scheme was being planned for Ave-Dakpa and outlying communities under the DANIDA supported programme of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA). He said the assembly would also this year reshape the important Xevi-Wuata-Metrikasa feeder road.

Mr Negble also stated that the Ave area would also benefit from a nationwide community based development programme in the provision of potable water and human resource development with a 72-million dollar support from the International Development Agency (IDA).

Mr Mc-Solo Dziwornu-Ziddah, President of the Ave Development Union (AVEDU) complained about the continuing destruction of crops in the area by cattle of Fulani Herdsmen who themselves threaten inhabitants with dangerous weapons.

He also appealed for the extension of electricity to Ave communities not yet reached and the de-silting of the five dams in the area, which serve as sources of drinking water for the people and animals.