Revamping of Tono dam is my major task - New DCE

Navrongo, June 16, GNA - Mr Aoyi Emmanuel Chegeweh, the Kassena-Nankana District Chief Executive, has said the revamping of the Tono Irrigation Project would address the perennial food insecurity in the Upper East Region. He said he would focus on revamping the project to enhance farming in the region.

Mr Chegeweh told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Navrongo on Wednesday that the project could meet all the country's rice needs as well as other staples. He said for the canals had never been rehabilitated for about 20 years now and said they needed to be revamped immediately. "From a consultant's point of view, the district will need about 10,000 dollars to put life back into the Tono Irrigation Project to increase productivity." He pledged to liaise with farmers and other opinion leaders in the district to evolve appropriate measures to revamp the project.

Mr Chegeweh, who is an engineer with "ICOUR", an irrigation company in the Upper East Region, said his other areas of focus would be the drilling of wells for the rural communities to embark on small-scale farming.

Mr Chegeweh said he was also would also drill boreholes in all the communities in the district with solar panels to ensure that the people had access to good drinking water. ''The Kassena-Nankena District is endowed with tourism potentials including the Paga Crocodile Pond, the Slave Camp at Paga/Nania and the Zega Game Reserve in Kayoro. I will do everything possible to attract tourists to those centres.''

On education, the DCE said he would contact heads of all schools in the district to see how best they could improve the sector and that the district assembly would not hesitate to institute scholarship schemes for needy but brilliant children.

The DCE lauded the National Health Insurance Scheme and gave the assurance that he would collaborate with health authorities in the district to ensure that the district implements it. He appealed to chiefs, community leaders and people from other political persuasions to help him to develop the district.