MPs must focus on constituency development at all times

The Member of Parliament for the Asuogyaman Constituency, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, has urged his parliamentary colleagues to pursue the implementation of developmental projects in their constituencies all year round, and not only election periods.

He said waiting for an election year to be serious about developmental projects, ostensibly for political gains would only lead to the execution of shoddy works.

Mr Nyarko said this during an engagement at Akosombo with Dennis Agyei Boateng, National President of Unilime Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.

Mr Nyarko said even though MPs primarily enacted laws, some citizens had redefined their roles as development agents, hence they expected them to undertake a lot of developments projects in their constituencies rather than being committed to the floor of Parliament to make laws.

“I don’t wait till election year before I start work because the campaign starts from now, so I focus on developmental issues from now to the election period. The electorate is smart and knows who is working and who wants power,” he stated.

On some of the development issues in his constituency, Mr Nyarko expressed commitment to creating more jobs.

That, he said, would complement the government's efforts at reducing unemployment among the youths and enhance the economy as youth unemployment was a major national problem, especially his constituency.

Outlining ways to address the unemployment situation, he said, he would continue to partner with Unilime Foundation under their flagship programme, Vocational, Technological and Technical (VOCTECH) to train more youth so that he could set them up after their graduation to be self-reliant.

He said Unilime Foundation conducted a lot of research to identify the problems, was committed to monitoring and evaluation, and very zealous with their work, hence the partnership to ensure the sustainability of the projects.

According to him, annually, he engaged more than 100 youth to be trained in Vocational and Technical skills such as sewing, masonry, tiling, carpentry, hairdressing, among others, and after graduation set them up for in business.

“Last year, in Frankadua community, I enrolled 120 young people in the training but at the end of the training, only 40 people graduated. I was not encouraged since they were less than 50 percent, but with Unilime Foundation, they could do a lot of supervisory on the project. I will be glad to recruit more and fund it so that Unilime Foundation can ensure its sustainability,” he explained.

At present, Mr Nyarko has partnered with the NGO to trained 15 youth on their VOCTECH project at Boso in the Eastern Region as a pilot project.

He funded the training and provided the necessary training machines to enhance their work ahead of graduation next year.

“I believe if we can work together with my resources and contacts, as well as the zeal and passion from the young volunteers, we will be able to achieve a lot of things together,” he stated.

The MP said he was partnering GiZ, a German development agency, to encourage more youth in agriculture, to impact the national economy.