Hon. Windham Emil Afram
Residents of Kwahu North District in the Afram Plains, which is located in the Northern part of the Eastern Region, have appealed to government to give them their share of the national cake for the social-economic development of the area.
The constituents of the district mentioned among other challenges lack of hospitals, standard clinics, poor road network, inaccessibility of electricity, educational infrastructure, ferry to transport residents from the place especially those living on the island.
Residents of the area according to them, notwithstanding the huge socio-economic potentials in the area coupled with its contributions to national development, the district is arguably the most neglected in the country.
Residents in the area have raised various legitimate concerns over the blatant neglect by government apart from what they described as a landmark achievement by former President Jerry John Rawlings who brought electricity to the area.
Apart from the electricity, all major developments in the area were also brought by the former President and the area has since not seen any development as it continues to be trapped in stricken poverty with its corresponding school dropout, teenage pregnancy among others.
70 percent out of the total population of 112,563 lives on five islands including Kpala, Dwarf or Digya, Tsetsekpo,Dzalepata and Kporve can only boast of one major hospital, the Presbyterian Hospital with some handful of makeshift health centres.
There are two main entrances into the Kwahu North by road namely through Nkawkaw – Mpraeso – Bepong – Kwahu Tafo and Adawso from where the three kilometer wide Afram River is crossed to Ekye – Amanfrom by ferry operated by the Volta Lake Transport Company (VLTC).
The only one way road which connects the district from Ekye – Amanfrom after the ferry has taken residents crossed the Volta Lake is also badly terrible making journey very difficult to the area and at times the road users are being attack by armed robbers.
The poor road infrastructure is also responsible for farmers’ difficulty in getting access to competitive buyers or market as well as inadequate access to extension services whose providers themselves have run out of transport facilities due to the high maintenance bills emanating from the poor road network
The second entrance is through Kpandu-Torkor in the Volta Region from where the Volta Lake is again crossed by one-and-a-half-hour portion journey to clock at Agordeke from where one can travel by road through Amankwaa and Adeemmra to the District capital, Donkorkrom.
There is another minor entrance into the district from Atebubu in the Brong Ahafo Region into Ntonaboma, which was ceded out of the Atebubu District and put administratively, under the Afram Plains North.
This is because collateral demanded by banking institutions and donor organizations cannot be met by the farmers who are migrants and whose future movements are unpredictable. Also the inadequate access to extension services whose providers themselves have run out of transport facilities due to the high maintenance bills emanating from the poor road network.
Young girls as comparatively young as 12 years are carrying babies without or with irresponsible fathers and are less motivated to continue their education after Junior High School (JHS) following the “wicked” socio-economic condition of the area, Child labour is another area of major concern that calls for an immediate government intervention as children as relatively young as three (3) years are engaged in various hard works such as farming, fishing among others to raise money for the parents and themselves.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) of the area, Hon. Windham Emil Afram, admitted the challenges but quickly called on residents to allay fears and panic as the Assembly find solution to the enormous challenges.
According to him, in spite of all these problems, the Assembly has over the years been encouraging famers and gingering the enthusiasm of private investors about investing in agriculture in the Afram Plains.
He continued that, the Central Government’s attention has been duly drawn to the plight of the Afram Plains leading to several intervention programmes put up for the development of the District.
He therefore, assured prospective investors who would come to the district for investment of his office readiness to create an enabling business environment.
The DCE disclosed that, his district combines the presence of abundant natural and human resources with well developed basic social infrastructure provided through the collaborative efforts of the Government, non-governmental organizations and the District Assembly itself.
He continued that, the migrant nature of the district provides fertile and feasible grounds for investment in the provision of hotel or hospitality services and most especially investment into agriculture especially crop, animal and Agro-Forestry development with definitely yield results.
Majority of the soils in the district are fine sandy loams, clay loams and semi-clay loams which have a potential for the cultivation of non-traditional export crops such as ginger, black and hot pepper, cassava for processing into gari, maize, yam cashew, sunflower and citronella.
“With the abundant water from the Volta, Kwahu Obosom Rivers the District has the potential for the promotion of irrigation farming for cultivation of vegetables such as tomatoes, garden eggs, okro, onion, chili, cabbages and pepper”, he added.
Hon. Afram hinted that, animal husbandry involving the rearing of cattle, breeding of sheep and goats and keeping of poultry is very successfully practiced in the District whose predominant savannah vegetation is suitable for livestock.
Agriculture provides more than half of the employment in the district, accounting for 54% of the labour force. With the service sector follows with 37%, while industry employs 9% and fishing, one percent.
Thus, there is still plenty of opportunity for investors to take advantage of the availability of abundant agricultural raw materials to turn primary products into secondary products and so create value.
For instance, cassava can be processed into cassava chips for export, while oil can be extracted from groundnuts and sunflower. Favourable conditions for cattle rearing which abound all over the district, especially on Dwarf lsland translates into great potential for the development of the dairy industry.
The ceramics industry, concentrated primarily at Bebuso and Adeamra, also holds strong potential due to the presence of large clay deposits in the district.
He further said women at Bebuso, for instance, are engaged in pottery and other aspects of the clay-based industry with three rivers, the Volta, Kwahu and Obosom, providing for lake transport and for inland lake fishing, the district’s potential for tourism is enormous. There are several major rivers and lakes crossing points and privately owned boats.
According to him, the location of the District has made security guarantees very difficult for residents and even officials of the Assembly should there be a security problem along the lake or on any of the islands.
He explained that, there is an urgent need for two (2) speed boats to increase the capacity of the District in the collection of revenue along the lake and on the islands and for rescue purposes times of danger.
DCE expressed his gratitude to the handful financial institutions in the area working directly with residents particularly farmers and appealed to them to make soft loans available to their farmers in the district.
“There is also lack of credit facilities for farmers and where they are available inadequate access to them make them useless to the farmer. This is because collateral demanded by banking institutions and donor organizations cannot be met by the farmers who are migrants and whose future movements are unpredictable”, he added.
