Dorcas Tophy, NDC parliamentary hopeful
A mini durbar of the chiefs and people of Old Edobo traditional area in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region has been held to climax this year's annual 'Tete Edobo' festival.
The festival is celebrated on every fishing season to render thanksgiving to God for the abundance of fish. During this year's celebration, the community raised funds for the construction of nursing quarters to accommodate medical staffs.
The community was provided with a CHIP compound by the outgone NDC government to take care of patients but accommodation for the nurses and other staff has been problematic for the community.
The festival also brought a lot of people such as opinion leaders, politicians across all political divides, religious leaders, and the media to climax the festival in a grand style.
The celebration which was on the theme, "The role of the youth in community development", was marked with activities such as appellation songs, football gala, a clean-up exercise, girl-child education, and fundraising.
During the fundraising, the opposition National Democratic Congress Parliamentary hopeful in the Jomoro Constituency, Miss Dorcas Tophy popularly known as Yaa Asantewaa donated 50 bags of cement to support the construction of the community's nurses quarters.
Ms Tophy who is also a gender activist made a cash donation of 1,000 Ghana Cedis to support the project.
Speaking to GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent after the fundraising over the weekend at Old Edobo, she noted that she would interact with some non-governmental organizations and companies to get more support for the project.
She revealed to the reporter that health issue is one of her topmost priorities and everywhere she goes, she contributed immensely towards the development of health issue.
She commended the community for planning to construct accommodation for the nurses and other staff to make their work very easy. She advised the community to make good use of the donations and urged other communities to emulate them.
Miss Tophy said she would do everything possible to support the Municipal Health Directorate to deliver quality healthcare for the people in the Municipality.
She revealed to GhanaWeb that she has bought a brand new and well-built air-conditioned ambulance for the Municipality and would be donated to Half Assini Government Hospital before the end of August, 2018.
She said the time has come for her to contribute her quota to the development of the Municipality and promised to do more to other sectors.
"The time has come for me to contribute my quota towards the development of my Municipality and it doesn't matter my political party NDC is in power or not, the development of this Municipality is so dear to me and I have to support and urge other individuals to come home and support Jomoro to develop, we shouldn't always look up to the government", she said.
Touching on education, Miss Tophy expressed worry about the falling standards of education in the area and attributed it to lack of parental control and copying of certain lifestyle by the youth.
She admonished parents not to lavish money on expensive funerals to the detriment of their children's education and their developmental needs.
She also advised youth in the area to commit themselves to their education and take advantage of emerging opportunities in the area.
She said though Old Edobo was a fishing community, yet the youth must not concentrate so much on fishing but rather, focus on education for a secured and brighter future.
Speaking to the chief of the area, Nana Epilah Sam III, he expressed profound appreciation to the people in the area especially the planning committee and others outside the community who came to grace the occasion.
He thanked sponsors and the media for the immense support given to the community and promised to make good use of the donation to achieve its intended purposes.
The chief used the opportunity to appeal to all indigenes of Old Edobo both home and abroad to contribute towards the developmental agenda of the community.
