Khalid kicks against already made school uniforms

Wa, Feb. 18, GNA - Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister has warned that his administration would not accept already made school uniforms supplied to the region for distribution.

"We have tailors in our region and will not allow people to dictate to us. The country is decentralised," he said. Mr. Khalid gave the warning when Mr. Fabian Balieb the Regional Director of Education told him at a meeting that 1,149 pieces of the uniforms had been received for distribution to pupils in deprived distric= ts in the region. Mr. Khalid said it was wrong for people to sit down in Accra and identify the deprived areas in the region. He explained that if the Upper West Region was adjudged as the poore= st in the country, it meant that all the districts that formed the region we= re equally poor and therefore, there was no justification to select only a f= ew to benefit from the package. The Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) organised the meeting for District and Municipal Chief Executives, Presiding Members of the Distric= t Assemblies and some sector heads of department and agencies to brief Mr. Khalid about their operations for the year. Officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, Department of Feeder Roads, Ghana Highways=

Authority and the Volta River Authority attended the meeting. Mr. Khalid highlighted the under-development challenges of the regi= on and said he had formed a think- tank group to develop a medium and long t= erm development plan that would tackle the needs of the people especially in the areas of education, health and agriculture. He said the RCC needed information to be abreast of the operations of critical government departments and agencies and to monitor them effectiv= ely and efficiently to benefit the people. Mr. Khalid said the Ghana Education Trust Fund had provided funding=

for the construction of school infrastructure in Wa Secondary/Technical, Daffiama Senior High School, Saint Francis Girls Senior High School and K= ale Secondary/Technical School. The fund was also supporting the construction of new Senior High schools at Funsi in the Wa East District and Gwollu in the Sissala West District. He said approval had also been given for the construction of a Regional Library and Hospital in Wa and expressed concern about the inadequate health personnel and health facilities in the area. Mr. Khalid said the RCC would put in measures to retain doctors and=

other critical health personnel posted to the region to facilitate qualit= y health care delivery to the people. Mr. Balieb said out of the 1,149 pieces of school uniform he receiv= ed from Quarshie Tailors Company Limited, 383 pieces would go to the Jirapa District, 383 for Lambussie/Karni District and 383 for Nadowli District. He said Lawra District had been provided with materials to produce 1,000 pieces of school uniforms under the "Equally Programme". Mr. Balieb said all districts in the region would be covered in the=

second phase of the Free School Uniform Programme.