District security committees urged to redouble efforts

Navrongo (UE), Aug. 2, GNA - District Security Committees (DISEC) have been asked to be proactive and work closely with stakeholders to maintain the peace in the country. District Chief Executive for the Kassena-Nankana East, Mr Emmanuel Andema, said this when he addressed the first ordinary meeting of the Assembly at Paga in the Upper East Region.

Mr Andema said the assembly has entered into a sister-city relationship with a city in neighbouring Burkina-Faso and that the purpose was to promote good neighbourliness as well as strengthen the ties between the two countries. The DCE said government was making efforts to ensure that it provided portable drinking water to rural communities that were confronted with the problem of water supply. He expressed worry at the poor sanitation in the area and said prompt attention would be taken with the launch of an educational campaign. He said a total of about GH¢678,587 was paid to health service providers as claims adding that "the awareness level of our people about the National Health Insurance Scheme is deep but there are still quite a lot of people out there, who have not yet made the effort to join the scheme."

The DCE said the road sector would receive the needed attention as part of efforts to open and link up communities in the district. Mr Andema commended government for the attention given to education and health sectors in terms of the provision of infrastructure and mentioned for instance the construction of a Community Health Based Planning Services (CHIPS) compound to accommodate community health nurses being funded by the Rural Development Project (RDP) and the District Assembly valued at GH¢50,000, a three unit day care centre also valued at GH¢50,000.

The DCE further added that a two storey-building District Administration block funded with resources from the District Assembly Common Fund at a tune of GH¢280,000 was also at completion stage.

The programmes Officer of the Environmental Management Project, Madam Jamilatu Yaro, called on the people in the area to protect the environment and said the environment is the only place humans can inhabit. She said the goal of the project was to strengthen Ghanaian institutions and rural communities to enable them reversed land degradation and desertification trends especially in the three Northern Regions. Madam Yaro appealed to the District Assembly to fully support the project to protect the environment.