THE KWAEBIBIREM District Assembly (KbDA) ought to be saluted for the expeditious member it mobilised resources to save about 350 pupils from dropping out of school.
The plight of the pupils came about as a result of a proprietor of a private preparatory school at Ofumi pulling out of business after a conflict ensued between him and his landlord.
As a result, the proprietor demolished his school building and carried away his property from Ofumi to Accra, leaving both parents and children stranded.
These were made known when the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. Yaw Yiadom Boakye addressed a special meeting of the KbDA.
According to him, KbDA has started the first phase of a school project which comprises three blocks of classrooms with stores, headteacher's office, teachers' common room and toilet facilities which is estimated to cost ?500 million.
Also 10 teachers will be provided with accommodation on the school compound with each of them being housed in a 2-bedroom self-contained unit of which four are under construction.
In light of the negative aspects of land litigation, the DCE condemned the callous attitude of the landlord and the proprietor.
Still on education, the DCE hinted that the assembly provided 55 tables and chairs, four dining tables, and eight benches as support to the additional intake of students at St. Rose's Secondary School whiles the assembly also provided 100 bags of cement towards the Kade library project.
In the area of agriculture, Boakye announced that four poultry farmers had been selected to be assisted to benefit from the Regional Poultry Farmers Christmas Programme which aims at helping to raise poultry birds at affordable prices for communities during the Christmas season.
In his address, the Deputy Local Government Minister, Captain Nkrabea Effah-Darteh (rtd), bemoaned the legacy of the erstwhile NDC government, saying that as at today the nation uses 98% of the total national revenue in paying salaries and servicing national debt.
He noted that as at the time the NPP took office in January, the Common Fund was in arrears by almost three-quarters adding that through prudent financial administration, the present government had cleared all the NDC arrears in the Common Fund.
He urged district assembles in the country to improve upon their collection of internal revenue and sounded a note of warning saying "if a district is not collecting ?50 million a month as internally generated revenue then we have to look at the whole matter again."
The deputy minister warned that revenue officers who condone corruption would be put before the fast track courts and if found guilty they would be jailed emphasising that the NPP really meant business when it preached positive change.
He urged Ghanaians to be patriotic and innovative, so as to meet their aspirations emphasising that Europe or America was no paradise and that if Ghanaians over there will tell of their experiences, one would weep for them.
Ghanaians, he said, ought to be in the forefront of their developmental goals taking into cognisance the burning determination to move the nation forward explaining that Americans were lucky to have slave labour to build the factories that turned their economies round.
Capt. Effah-Darteh was of the view that if the haemorrhage caused by corruption in the country could only be reduced by 50%, Ghana would be a paradise.
He cited areas such as Yilo Krobo where ?8 million was collected on July 1, 2001 at the Boti Falls while previous records show that ?200,000 was collected last year.
