Kato residents call for regular power supply

Kato (B/A), Jan. 16, GNA- Residents of Kato in Berekum District have called for regular electricity supply as well as adequate public telephone system.

At the People's Assembly held at Kato on Thursday, the community also proposed the establishment of an educational endowment fund, to support needy but brilliant kids.

They noted that even though the main electricity line passes through the town to Berekum, about five kilometres away, they had not enjoyed uninterrupted electricity supply for the past 11 years. They held that the town's streetlights had only three bulbs and had even not been functioning regularly.

Reacting to the concerns, Mr Kwabena Kyere-Yeboah, the District Chief Executive, said the District Assembly had envisaged the Kato electricity problem in its SHEP Four project this year. He said 80 low-tension poles valued at 320 million cedis would be needed for the project to enable the town to enjoy the full complement of its power requirements.

Mr Kyere-Yeboah appealed to chiefs in the district to assist the Assembly to establish an educational endowment fund.

He intimated that the Assembly once made an attempt to establish a similar Fund but had to abandon the idea due to lack of support, brought about by chieftaincy disputes in the area.

Answering a question on the creation of speed ramps at Fententaa, Mr Yaw Adjei-Duffour, Brong-Ahafo Deputy Regional Minister, said Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) had made it clear that speed ramps contravened highway codes.

He therefore advised communities on the highway to educate their children to be careful on such roads.

Mr Adjei-Duffour appealed to the Police to conduct periodic motor checks on the highways to control speeding drivers. He suggested that the Motor Traffic and Traffic Unit (MTTU) erect signboards at the outskirts of the town to regulate the speed of drivers.

At the people's assembly at Asiri in the Jaman District, NPP executives from Drobo, the district capital, boycotted the programme. A source at the Jaman District Coordinating Council told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the executives were peeved because the programme was not held at Drobo.

In spite of that, the programme went on with all the six traditional councils fully represented.

While some of the people commended the NPP government for a good job done, others held that it needed to do more to fulfil its electioneering campaign promises.

Some called for a law banning unnecessary funeral expenses in some communities.

A contributor appealed to the government to abandon its proposal to take 2.5 percent of workers' social security contributions as seed money for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Instead, a fixed monthly deduction should be made from workers' salaries towards the scheme, the contributor said.

The people urged the District Assembly to institute a task force to monitor the operations of road contractors to avoid shoddy work, as some of the road projects were not well executed.

A contributor also suggested the enactment of a law to bond medical doctors so that they would not abandon the country for greener pastures elsewhere after being trained with the taxpayer's money.