Ellembelle DCE cuts sod for construction of 15-unit classroom block for five communities

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Ellembelle District in the Western Region, Hon. Kwasi Bonzo popularly known as Ellembelle David has cut sod for the construction of a 3-unit classroom block for five communities, to improve access to education.

The communities namely; Bomoakpole, Nvenlesolo, Basake, Asanta and Salman are expected to have a 3-unit classroom block each.

The new classroom blocks, to be completed within four months, will have various ancillary facilities including staff common rooms, offices and stores and ICT centers to facilitate effective teaching and learning.

The projects will be funded through the District Development Fund (DDF) and other sources at a cost of over 1.5 million Ghana Cedis. The new blocks when completed will be equipped with dual desks in each class.

Speaking at Bomoakpole during the sod cutting ceremony on Friday, November 9, 2018, the DCE, Hon. Kwasi Bonzo thanked the Chiefs and people for the unflinching support given to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP during the 2016 general elections.

He also thanked the community for releasing the vast land for the project.

Hon. Bonzo said education was the priority of the Assembly, adding that the new classroom blocks formed part of the projects earmarked for this year to improve education infrastructure to ensure quality education in the District.

He, therefore, urged the contractors to deliver the project on schedule for the benefit of pupils of the school.

He also, therefore, urged the beneficiary communities to collaborate with the contractors to meet the four months duration to minimize overcrowding in the next academic calendar.

The DCE also urged the contractor to engage some of the youth and women in executing the job.

"Nana, our District by its unique place in the history of our dear Nation has a potential to become a major tourist destination. It is for this reason that the Assembly is currently working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Arts and the World Bank to redevelop and rehabilitate the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and also restore the Kwame Nkrumah Motel to its original state to serve as a residence and museum for potential tourist to Nkroful being the birth place and the original barrier place of the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of the Republic of Ghana", he assured.

He also assured the Chiefs and people in the Ellembelle District of government’s commitment to help bring the needed development to them.

The caretaker Chief of Bomoakpole, Abusuakpanyinli Ellonekwaw, lauded the Assembly for the kind gesture and promised to assist the contractor to expedite the project.

He applauded the erstwhile NDC government for bringing some developmental projects to the area and called on the current government to continue.

He used the opportunity to appeal to the Assembly to construct a toilet facility for the area to ease open defecation.

At Basake community, the Chief, Nana Bonya Kofie VI thanked the DCE for selecting his community to be part of the projects but expressed his dissatisfaction with the DCE for giving his community only three-unit classroom block.

"I am not happy with the DCE at all for giving us only three-unit classroom block, Hon. DCE you know Basake community is big and has over six hundred student population and since this world was created, we the members here have been using our resources to build classroom blocks and no government has helped us so today that the government is coming to provide us classrooms and we were expecting a six-classroom block not this three", he worried.

He used the opportunity to plead with the DCE to construct a toilet facility for the school.

He, therefore, commended President Akufo-Addo for the implementation of the Free SHS program and called on his people to take advantage of it.

At Nvenlesolo Community, Nana Nvenlesolo II thanked the DCE for the kind gesture and pledged his total commitment to support the contractor to finish the project on time as expected.

He called on his people to pray hard for the DCE to live long.

He seized the opportunity to appeal to the DCE to provide the school with School Feeding Programme to encourage more children to be enrolled in the school.

The Chief called on the DCE to consider some of his youth who are brilliant but needy with educational scholarship.

Reacting to the Chief of Nvenlesolo appeal, the DCE, Hon. Kwasi Bonzo pledged his readiness to provide the community with the School Feeding Programme.

The DCE urged the Chief to submit him one brilliant but needy student within the week for sponsorship.

He also seized the opportunity of the occasion to plead with parents and guardians to take advantage of the free education at the primary to secondary level to send their children and wards to school.

He revealed that plans are far in advance to distribute over 500 dual desks for some schools in the District which do not have enough furniture.



On his part, the District Director of Education for the area, Mr. Ackah-Blay Quayson urged the beneficiary communities to support the contractors to complete the projects on schedule.

He called on the contractors to avoid any shoddy work and do quality work.

He also cautioned the communities not to engage in stealing of the materials for the construction and added that any person found culpable would be punished by the law.

He pleaded with the Chiefs to reserve lands for future educational infrastructures.

He used the occasion to appeal to the parents to invest in their children's education and tasked them to assist them to learn hard at home.

He bemoaned the falling standard of the education in the District and called for corporation between the PTA, Chiefs and Religious Leaders in the area to find lasting solution to the problem.

He pledged his total commitment to monitor the execution of the projects to meet the duration.

Moreover, the students and people couldn't hold their joy and happiness and and sung amidst of dancing and asked God to bless him abundantly.

Present at the sod cutting ceremonies were Chiefs and opinion leaders, the District Education Director and staff, Ellembelle District Coordinating Director, the District Police Commander for the area, Presiding Member, Assembly members, the DCE and Heads of Department of the Assembly, the media among others.