Roads in Sissala District in deplorable state

Members of the Sissala East District Assembly have bemoaned the deplorable nature of roads in the area, a situation they said was affecting the livelihood and health of the people.

The members said some of them had to pass through routes in Burkina Faso to get to their communities, and it was difficult to transport patients, especially women in labour from such communities to health facilities.

Business activities between people in the communities and traders in Tumu, the district capital, had slowed down thereby affecting the local economy.

The assembly members raised these concerns at the second ordinary session of the assembly in Tumu at the weekend.

Some members said feeder and link roads including Tumu Town roads were in deplorable conditions and called on government to aid the movement of people, goods and services.

On food crop production this season, the assembly members said the removal of subsidies on farm inputs, especially fertilizers, had put a burden on farmers in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions.

They blamed members of parliament from the three regions for failing to make a case for farmers in parliament, but allowed government to withdraw the subsidies.

“We expected all members of parliament from the three regions to have spoken about it but none said anything about the removals of subsidies on farm inputs, knowing very well that farmers depended on agriculture for their livelihoods”, some members lamented.

The assembly members appealed to government to provide financial assistance to companies to buy all maize and other food crops produced by farmers as it was being done for cocoa.

The members said last year, farmers in the district produced a lot of maize but had no direct market to sell them and that had affected them financially.

Touching on the termination of appointments of pupil teachers, the assembly pleaded with government to have a second look at the decision, pointing out that the Upper West Region would be worst hit if all pupil teachers were withdrawn from the classrooms.

They said all the deprived schools in the rural communities were being manned by pupil teachers, and therefore, any attempt to totally withdraw them would result in the closure of those schools.

The assembly members expressed disappointment that 13 communities in the district were still without electricity, and appealed to government to take appropriate measures to connect those communities to the national grid to help promote cottage industry.

Dr. Musheibu Alfa Mohammed, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, who addressed the session, admitted the poor nature of roads in region, and said traditional rulers had spoken about it and gave the assurance that government would do something about them.

He said the financial situation of Ghana’s economy, had been challenged hence the removals of farm inputs and appealed to the assembly members to help educate the people on issues that made government to withdraw subsidies on the inputs.