Samuel Agbewode
21 July 2011
The Krachi-West District Assembly has resolved to sponsor students from the area into colleges of education as a long term measure to help address shortages of teachers in the district. Students who would benefit from the sponsorship programme would return to the area to teach after completion of their courses.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Moses Kwame Punyah, who announced this at the ordinary meeting of the assembly at Kete Krachi, said the decision was arrived at by the refusal of most teachers to accept postings to the district.
According to the DCE, the assembly was currently sponsoring 158 pupil teachers at the Dambai College of Education, at a total cost of
GH ¢11,500.
Mr. Punyah continued that the unfortunate situation that prevailed in the education sector in the area was not different from what happened in the health sector, because the area equally lacked adequate nurses at the various health facilities, as they also refused postings to the area.
He said to address the problem, the assembly had also adopted a strategy to sponsor students who come from the area and were interested, to take up nursing as a profession, to the various nurses training colleges to serve the district after completion of their courses.
The DCE explained that 80 community Teaching Assistants, under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), had been recruited and posted to some of the vacant classrooms in the district, as a short term measure to equip schools with the needed teachers.
Mr. Punyah stressed that the assembly was also sponsoring students at the various tertiary educational institutions, as a way of helping to attract the human resources needed for the development of the district. He disclosed that so far, the Assembly had spent GH ¢8,900 on student nurses and other students at the various tertiary institutions.
Touching on development projects being undertaken, the DCE said the construction of the Grubi-Papatia feeder road at the cost of GH ¢77,603.50, a semi-detached bungalow at Kete-Krachi to address the accommodation needs of workers at the cost of GH¢104,576.95, and the construction of a military barracks at Kete-Krachi for “Operation Gongongo” personnel at a cost of GH¢116,885.94, were all under the District Development Fund.
Touching on revenue, Mr. Punyah said the assembly projected GH¢77,553 as revenue to be collected for the first half of the year 2011.
As at 21st May, 2011, the assembly had collected a total of GH¢49,981.28, representing 64 percent of the total projected revenue target, which he described as very encouraging, and urged the revenue collection staff to work hard.
He stressed that the leadership of the assembly would not focus much on its problems, because it sees such problems as opportunities to work hard to improve the living conditions of the people.
He noted that the core staff of the assembly would not be in position to achieve the desired development aspirations of the people without the collaborative efforts of all, and called for total support for the assembly to promote growth and development in the area.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Krachi-West, Mr. Francis Osei- Sarfo, said it was the government’s desire to deepen the decentralisation process for the accelerated development of the country, and pointed out that one way to enhance development was through the effective mobilisation of internally generated funds, which he said, played a crucial role in the local development process.
Mr. Osei-Sarfo, therefore, urged the assembly members to adopt effective monitory systems in their respective communities to maximise revenue collection for the assembly.
The Presiding Member for the Krachi-West District Assembly, Nana Omankumite II, noted the prevailing peace in the area over the years, and commended the assembly members for their contributions that had led to steady development in the area.
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