The Launching of the Kumawu Waterfall Bares the Incompetence and Naiveté of the Kumawu DCE

Until Monday, 2 July 2018, when the official launching of the Kumawu waterfall took place at Bomfobrim where the waterfall is situated in Kumawu, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Sekyere Kumawu District, Samuel Addae Agyekum (Hon), had for many months preceding the mentioned date, unceasingly publicised it in the media. I congratulate him for the advertisements he made on televisions, radio stations and probably in the newspapers as well as on the social media, especially the YouTube, with intent to attract many people to Kumawu to view the waterfall.

He is determined to make the waterfall a tourist attraction centre to boost the local economy. This is a very noble idea of which I give him a pat on the back. However, I have come to remark how inexperienced, but very exaggerative he is. That attitude of his is neither doing him nor the people in the district any good. The way he carries himself about in his attempts to prove his worth, if not to prove to His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government that he is more than able and capable of doing his job with excellence, is where his problem lies.

Instead of analysing situations critically and giving his pronouncements much thought before going public with them, he just comes out to run his mouth off. Not long ago, or exactly on 22 June 2018, I published an article on Modernghana headlined, “Sekyere Kumawu DCE Is Playing A Big Time Role Of Spin Doctor For NPP”, to fault him. The detail contents of the publication can be accessed via the web link cited below.

Sekyere Kumawu DCE Is Playing A Big Time Role Of Spin Doctor For NPP

Going back to the waterfall issue, for all the energy and time as well as money spent on the advertisements and planning, he might have again got certain basic but vital things wrong, going by a tourist’s views. From the tourist’s account as could be seen and heard from a video posted on YouTube, health and safety measures were not put in place. First, the footbridge made of a single bamboo as asserted by the tourist if it is true, breaches the health and safety rules if any exists in Ghana. Tourists’ lives could clearly have been put into danger when crossing the gorge walking on a single bamboo. If one slips, he or she will find him or herself in the ravine. If many of the bamboos had been placed side by side and solidly tied together, I would have no concern raised about the safety of those who trooped to Bomfobrim to watch the waterfall. Watch the YouTube below titled, “the truth about kumawu waterfalls”. It gives insight into the real problems encountered by the tourists.

Much as it is just the beginning to catapult the waterfall into a proper and prosperous attraction centre, a temporary structure could have been erected for the visitors to proceed to ease themselves if they needed to. There was nothing of the sort. Each visitor was left to their own ways as they deemed necessary or befitting, to attend to nature’s call if the occasion demanded.

Again, the timing could not have been right, though not much of a problem. Since the waterfall was miles from the main road and accessible only by footpath through thicket, dry season could have been the better time. In the rainy season, people had to walk through mud to reach the waterfall. If the DCE had announced that people should come in boots because of the weather, I would have had no problem with him.

In one of his YouTube postings, one could see a green house close by the waterfall but from the tourists’ view and as confirmed by some people who had previously visited the waterfall, not only that the house belongs to the rangers overseeing the Bomfobrim wildlife and forest reserve but also, it is about half a mile from the waterfalls. If this claim is true, why should a video by the DCE posted on YouTube during his advertisements, be so edited to place the green house just within a few metres from the actual waterfall?

SOLUTIONS:
The DCE must stop exaggerating but to tell things as they are. He must consult with people who are either experts or are more knowledgeable than him on certain issues before he comes out to make public statements. The NPP Government is more serious to achieve the best for Ghanaians so his seeming propaganda and infantile behaviours will not be helpful to the cause of NPP and the President. His same deplorable attitude will deprive Sekyere Kumawu District of their fair share of the national cake. Exhibiting youthful exuberance in governance in the manner Samuel Addae Agyekum (Hon) is portraying will not yield any better results but rather spell doom for him and the district.

Whoever has contact with him should please convey my views as hereby published to his attention. As long as I am seeking the best for Ghana in general and Kumawu and Juaben in particular, I shall find it more difficult sitting on the fence tolerating the continuous exhibition of incompetence and naiveté by the DCE hence my published correctional admonition and suggestions to him.

Rockson Adofo