THE EASTERN Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, says the region’s development programme to ensure a fair distribution of the national cake is on course.
That, according to him, was in fulfilment of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government’s “Better Ghana” agenda for the people.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo made this known in the “meet-the-press encounter, the first of its kind to be organised on a regional basis, in Koforidua last Thursday.
It was attended by heads of departments in the region, some of whom assisted the regional minister, his Deputy, Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed and the Information Minister, Mr John Tia Akologo in answering questions about their outfits.
Also present were the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and other technocrats.
In a three-hour presentation Mr Ofosu- Ampofo, said on the whole, a lot had been achieved and that by 2012, the people in all the communities would have been provided with the needed social amenities to improve their lot.
The areas he covered were education, health, security, agriculture, tourism, transport sector, especially the construction and rehabilitation of roads and general infrastructural development.
With regard to education, he said 51 new schools would be built in the region and that provisions were being made to cater for additional students as a result of the extension of the duration of the senior high school from three to four years.
Government initiatives such as the capitation grant, free meals and school uniforms to schoolchildren in very deprived areas, he also indicated, had led to increase in enrolment, especially at the basic level.
On health, he said although the region had only 107 doctors, with a doctor-patient ratio of 1:22,300 and a nurse-patient ration of 1:1,000, a lot had been achieved in that sector and mentioned a reduction of maternal mortality from 250 per 100,000 live births in 2008 to 152 per 100,000 live births in 2009, as well as antenatal service coverage by 95 per cent, as some of the achievements.
Apart from that, he said a number of health facilities had been renovated and refurbished by the government with the support of the Government of Korea and some non-governmental organisations.
The health insurance scheme in the region, he also stated, had gained grounds with 1,636,662 registered members, constituting 75.67 per cent of the population.
He, however, indicated a number of challenges in the health sector such as HIV with a prevalent rate of 4.2 per cent since 2007 and the recent cases of HINI at the Okuapemman Senior High School and said the regional co-ordinating council had taken the necessary measures to address the problems.
On roads, he stated that although there had been significant improvement, motor accidents had been on the increase, especially on the Eastern Region stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway and the Aburi-Mamfe Road, and added that his outfit, in collaboration with the Motor Traffic Unit of the Ghana Police Service and the Road Safety Committee were doing the best to curtail these accidents.
With regard to security, he said although the area had been generally peaceful, chieftancy disputes, activities of nomadic Fulani herdsmen who at times raped women on farms that had been destroyed by their animals, illegal gold and diamond mining often referred to as “gallamsey” and illegal chainsaw operations had led to the death of people, but expressed the hope that exercises by the law-enforcing agencies would address such unlawful acts.
He solicited support from traditional rulers and land owners to deal with the challenges.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, who indicated that other criminal activities such as murder, robbery, rape and defilement, as well as dealings in narcotic drugs had reduced significantly since 2008, expressed the hope that the security agencies would continue to live up to expectation to reduce such cases to its barest minimum.
The regional minister, who also spoke extensively on agriculture, stated among other things that a total of 176,531 farmers had been technologically assisted to boost production of various food crops, while 125,000 cocoa farmers had also had their farms sprayed free of charge, adding that the initiative had led to increase in cocoa production.
Large-scale, privately-owned farms such as the Kwanin Farms in the Kwahu North District (Afram Plains), he stated, were also being assisted by the government to produce more food for export and for home consumption.
On tourism, the regional minister stated that the region had a lot of tourist facilities such as the Boti Falls at Huhunya, the Volta Lake, the Oda big tree which is said to be the biggest in West Africa, the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm at Mampong-Akuapem, the Craft Village at Aburi, as well as numerous annual events such as traditional festivals and the paragliding festival on the Kwahu Mountains.
He said since such facilities had continued to attract tourists to the region, his administration would offer the necessary assistance to develop them to earn more foreign exchange for the development of the area.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo was, however, not happy about the assemblies’ indebtedness to contractors and suppliers, who were engaged by the previous administration, which currently stood at GH¢6,189,371.63 as well as the inability of beneficiaries of the Poverty Alleviation Fund to repay the arrears of GH¢1,558,410.16.
He therefore, asked the assemblies and the beneficiaries of the poverty alleviation fund to try and settle such debts.
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