Berekum West District: GHC29,000 IGF Raised In 6 Months

The Berekum West District in the Brong-Ahafo Region has, as at September, 2018, generated GH¢28,851, representing 80.6% of the total expected Internally Generated Funds of GH¢35,800.62 for the year 2018.

The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Isaac Osei, who announced this at the first Ordinary Meeting of the Berekum West District Assembly at Jinijini, noted that the amount mobilised was a remarkable achievement, considering the fact that revenue collection commenced in the district in April this year.

Mr. Osei added that an amount of GH¢2,894,246.50 was allocated to the district as its 2018 share of the District Assemblies Common Fund, out of which GH¢261,082.99 was received as the first quarter transfer to the district.

SECURITY
According to the DCE, the district has remained calm since its inauguration in March 2018. He noted, however, that a security issue inherited from the Berekum Municipal Assembly is the land dispute between Koraso, Amankokwaa and surrounding communities.

To address that problem, a committee was constituted by nananom (chiefs) and the Municipal Security Council of Berekum, and the report submitted to the Regional Security Council for study and recommendation.

“I have also taken delivery of the copy of the report from Berekum, and together with [the] DISEC we are studying it and will act on any recommendation from my superior officers,” he said.

The DCE observed that many communities in the district remain dark at night due to poor lighting, a situation which gives opportunity for miscreants to perpetrate criminal activities in such communities at night.

“To forestall this menace, the assembly has acquired 290 street lights, which are currently being installed in some communities. It is our plan to rehabilitate all damaged streetlights, and in the long turn, provide all communities within the district with adequate lighting,” the DCE pledged.

WATER AND SANITATION
The DCE said currently, the district can boast of 60 boreholes and four small town water systems, and admitted that this was woefully inadequate, and, therefore, there is the urgent need to intensify efforts in providing good water sources for the people.

“Plans are, therefore, underway to provide a number of boreholes to add up to the number already available. Currently, two boreholes are being mechanised at Ayimon and Koraso to expand potable water coverage in these communities,” he assured the assembly.

Mr. Osei said the management of public latrines has become a problem due to the diminishing of communal spirit in many communities, as a result, many public latrines, which were constructed in the district to eradicate open defecation, have become dysfunctional.

As a way forward, and in line with national policy, Mr. Osei assured the assembly that household toilets are being promoted.

“Households will be encouraged by the assembly by offering incentives in the form of building materials to enable households construct durable latrines that can stand the test of time. We shall, therefore, start with a pilot project at Domfete this year, and scale up to cover the entire district in due course,” Mr. Osei told the house.

The DCE said through the Ministry of Special Initiative the district is benefiting from three ten-seater closet latrines. He mentioned the construction of a 10-seater pour flush toilet at Nsapor, a 10-seater pour flush toilet at the Jinijini Market, and a 10-seater pour flush toilet at Koraso, as the projects received under the Special Initiatives.

According to Mr. Osei, the assembly is also in the process of providing toilet infrastructure in some communities. He said the project is being initiated by the government in a bid to arrest the worsening sanitation problems by providing access to public places of convenience.

“Ghana First Company Limited, a waste management company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with a German company to construct modern toilet facilities across the country. All the toilet facilities are going to be water closets, but would come with different number of toilet seater/chambers per the population of the community,” the DCE said, and added that “the company has entered into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the assembly to help construct these toilets nationwide.”

EDUCATION
Mr. Osei noted that a well-trained human capital is the district's most important resource that can harness all other resources to speed up development, and that good education also enhances skills training and many other endeavours.

To this end, the focus of the District Assembly is to develop the education sector to the highest standard. “The sector has been fraught with many challenges such as poor school infrastructure, inadequate professional teachers, inadequate teaching and learning materials, all attributing to [the] poor performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) over the years,” the DCE noted.

According to the DCE, to address these challenges, a number of projects had been planned in both the 2018 and 2019 composite budgets of the assembly.

He said: “The Botokrom Basic School will receive a facelift with the construction of one No. 3- unit classroom block with an office and store, a three-seater Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP), a urinal, and supply of furniture for both teachers and pupils, that is, a full complement of facilities that make up a total school.”

He added that “the Fetentaa School will also be given a one No four-unit teachers' quarters to solve the perennial problem of teacher absenteeism and lateness in the school.”

“It is our belief that when teachers are accommodated in the communities where the schools are located, they put up their best and also assist in mobilising the community for other beneficial activities,” Mr. Osei said.

The DCE also said the District Assembly would construct one No. 3 unit classroom block at Nsapor, and additionally provide building materials to support community-initiated programmes in education.

He gave the assurance that brilliant students who, through no fault of theirs, are not able to continue with their education due to poverty, will also be supported to pursue their academic ambitions at all levels of the educational ladder.

HEALTH
Mr. Osei expressed worry that the district has no medical officer to serve its 79,656 population.

“The district capital, Jinijini, is served by only a health center, and currently, the Physician Assistant manning the faculty is on posting without a replacement. Out of the 19 CHPS Compound in the district, only five are currently functioning, namely, Fetentaa, Botokrom, Nkyenkyeman, Amomaso and Tewbabi,” he informed the assembly.

The DCE said some of the challenges in the health sector can be solved at the national level, while others can be solved at the local level. In that direction, the assembly has budgeted to construct a staff quarters at the Jinijini Health Center, and the project will soon be awarded on contract.

“My office has also made contact with the Municipal Director of Health Services for Berekum to post staff to the Amankokwaa CHPS Compound to render it operational. The issue of lack of water for the Nsapor CHPS Compound is also being given attention, and, very soon, the facility will be made to function,” Mr. Osei said.

According to Mr. Osei, to facilitate the administration of the health sector, some offices will be secured to enable the Ghana Health Service establish a Health Directorate in the district.

“It is our belief that the establishment of the directorate will go a long way to improve health service delivery, since the experts in the sector will be available to advise the assembly on the best way forward,” he said.

ROADS
The DCE noted that agriculture is the mainstay of the economy of the district, and over 70% of the population is engaged in it. “It is a known fact that agriculture thrives on good road networks, because farmers have to cart their farm produce from the hinder land to market centres to sell in order to recover their cost of production, and also make some profit for their sustenance,” he said.

The DCE was, however, worried about the poor condition of roads in the district, which leave farmers no choice than to watch their annual labour go waste on their farms.

As a stop gap measure, the DCE said the assembly had embarked on a massive grading of all roads in the district to render them motorable, so that during the harvest season, farmers can, at least, salvage their farm produce from post-harvest losses.

“As a long term measure, my office is liaising with the Department of Feeder Roads to take inventory of roads, and also engineer all un-engineered roads towards their future construction. Plans are also in place to open up roads to all inaccessible communities in the coming years,” the DCE said.

NATION BUILDERS CORP
The DCE informed the house that 133 NABCO graduates have been allocated to the district and will soon be deployed in all productive sectors.

“For us, as a new district battling with staffing constraints, this is a welcome relief, since departments and agencies that are unable to establish in the district due to lack of staff, will now have adequate human resources to establish,” he said.

PLANTING FOR EXPORT AND DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Osei said under the government's flagship programme for planting for export and development, 100,000 cashew seedlings have been allocated to the district for the 2019 farming season.

“It is our hope that farmers will take advantage of the programme to diversify their cash crop base and make some extra income, while helping the country solve its problems of over-reliance on cocoa for earning of foreign exchange,” the DCE said.

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Ghana to improve productivity and access to jobs for the poor

The World Bank today approved a $60 million International Development Association (IDA)* credit for the Ghana Productive Safety Net project to strengthen and improve social safety nets and productive inclusion of the poor and vulnerable.

“The project will contribute towards the Government's objective of improving the livelihoods of poor households by harnessing investments in the Social Protection sector to support these households to better access services that promote their productivity and improve their access to jobs” said Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Ghana.

The project will directly benefit the poorest households in all regions of Ghana as follows: 25,000 individuals through a productive inclusion program; 30,000 beneficiaries through a Labor-Intensive Public Works program (LIPW); and 350,000 households through a Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer program. Beneficiaries will be selected from the poorest districts and communities using the most updated data available from the Ghana Statistical Service.

Ghana has made significant progress in establishing social protection systems, using “disruptive technology” the Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR) which allows households to be selected into a range of targeted social safety programs through an objective and transparent process. The project will also strengthen the national safety net delivery system and indirectly benefit all households that will be captured in the GHNR as potential beneficiaries of social protection programs.

The Ghana Productive Safety Net project aims to further improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the LEAP cash transfer and LIPW programs and to also complement these by contributing to Jobs creation for extremely poor households. This includes the development of small earth dams and dugouts to mitigate the impacts of climate, as well as improving standards for maintaining these assets with community involvement and ownership.

The project directly contributes toward the goals of the Ghana's “Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017–2024)”, and the “Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for all” (2018 – 2021).