Monthly Archives: January 2020

Creating a world that is truly fit for #children does not only imply the absence of war, it implies the presence of opportunities for them to believe in themselves and be confident about their future. It also means letting them know the rights they are entitled to and having their #parents take responsibilities as well. This, we seek to ensure through our Speed mentoring/Review program.

We had a very fruitful month as our series of Speed Mentoring/Review programs in various communities were crowned with two sessions held at Nkwanta South Municipality in the Volta Region of Ghana. Over 700 children and 82 parents and teachers from 8 schools were reached.

We were very happy to have made it to Nyambong, where the highest cases of teenage pregnancy in that Municipality was constantly recorded and this substantiates the number of teen mothers from this village whom we trained in our vocational Entrepreneurial Pathway.

Wherever we went, we made sure we had approval from the Assembly and #Education Directorate and Nkwanta South Municipality was no exception.
We are still on the journey to transforming #Africa, one child at a time. 

• By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
  Nkwanta (VR), Sept. 06, GNA – Mr John Thasun, the District Chief Executive for Nkwanta South, has appealed to government to consider the District for a municipality status to enhance development. He said the District had over 300 communities with a total population of 117,000, and an above average birth rate. The Nkwanta South was created out of the Kete Krachi District in 1989 and retained a land area of 2,733 square kilometres after the Nkwanta North District was carved out in 2008, making it the largest District in the Volta region by land size with 14.7 per cent. Mr Thasun made the appeal at a public engagement during a duty tour of the area by Mr Nyonyo Agboada, Council of State member for Volta in Nkwanta. He said the District was strategically positioned to become an economic and industrial enclave and had resolved to establish three factories for a start under the One District One Factory policy initiative. Mr Thasun said the District was in need of vocational and other skill training centres to productively engage the unemployed and expressed readiness to collaborate with the private sector to transform its economy. He said an extra substation and rural electrification were crucial to the transformation agenda and appealed to government to prioritize the area. Mr Thasun said the District’s communities suffered bad road networks and dilapidated bridges with most remote communities being cut off during heavy downpours. He said the road linking Dambai in the Krachi East remained a major route but construction had been stalled for some time and appealed for it to be fixed. Mr Thasun expressed concern over malnutrition in the District and said apart from fighting poverty, sensitization was necessary to erase barriers of “ignorance” and traditional beliefs as well as the establishment of health facilities especially in the remote communities. He said the District faced environmental degradation due to bush fires, unsuitable farming practices and climate change.     Mr Agboada asked the people to be united to attract investments for rapid development.

Chiefs, opinion leaders and Assembly members in the Nkwanta South municipality have pledged to take up the task of developing the newly inaugurated Municipality in the Volta Region into a model.

Nana Obombo Lapouro Sewura II, Paramount Chief of Akyode Traditional Area, said the new status places a “great responsibility” on them to make the Municipality the best.

“Government has given much and expects much…so we will use the opportunity to show what we have”.

Mr John Thasun, the Municipal Chief Executive, thanked Government for elevating the District and pledged to make the Municipality the cleanest in the country.

He said good health borders on sanitation and in this regard Assembly would employ punitive measures against defaulters and called on the youth to play active roles in the fight to ensure that the environment is kept clean.

The MCE said the Assembly was recording significant increase in its internally generated revenue and that with the inclusion of property rates to the revenue pool, it could achieve more successes.

Mr Thasun said a number of police posts are being positioned at vantage communities along the border with Togo to enhance security.

He said the Municipality would benefit from Government’s ‘Akwaba Hotels’ project to boost tourism, and called on investors and tourists to place Nkwanta on their tour maps.

Mr Maxwel Blagodzi, Deputy Volta Regional Minister who inaugurated the Assembly on behalf of the President, urged the people to receive government’s initiatives “wholeheartedly” and support their leaders to develop the area.

He said Government’s commitment to the development of local Assemblies and urged the locals to support the Assembly to reposition the area for rapid socioeconomic development.

Mr Geoffrey Kini, Member of Parliament for the area, said he would support efforts of the Assembly to develop the Municipality into an enviable status.

The Nkwanta South Municipality was created out of the Kete Krachi District in 1989 and retained a land area of 2,733 square kilometers after the Nkwanta North District was carved out in 2008, making it the largest District in the Volta Region by land size with 14.7 per cent.

The Municipality has over 300 communities with a total population of 117,000, and an above average birth rate.

Residents of about 11 communities in the Nkwanta South Municipality in the Volta Region have called on the government to connect them to national electricity grid as soon as possible.

 The residents say they have been living in the dark for several years despite numerous appeals to government to bring them power.

The residents have threatened to hit the streets in protest if the situation persists.

One of the residents who spoke to Joy News said the lack of power is the cause of the area’s stagnant growth.

 “We have low level of development as a result of the lack of electricity in our communities and we tired,“ the resident said.

The communities, namely, Alokpatsa, B-Zongo, Adam Akura, Alege Akura, Mmem Akura, Otolu Junction, Krachi Okura, Kofi Akura , Kojoheneba, Portripor and Jumbo Cheri have been without light for many years.

In an interview with the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the area, John Thusun, he said there are plans by the Assembly to put the various communites on the national grid before the end of the year.

He said the Assembly and Government have made provision for a new electrification project for the communities.

The Nkwanta South District Assembly has assured indigenes living outside the district capital,Nkwanta about the Assembly’s resolve to end the perennial safe water challenges that they face.

Speaking to a section of the media at the Nkwanta South District Assembly complex on Wednesday, the District Chief Executive, hon.John Thasun disclosed that,water and sanitation issues are core to the heart of the Assembly.

The Assembly has therefore, given priority to it in their budget and will as a matter of urgency mechanise some boreholes in the District for small/town water supply system.

Hon.Thasun mentioned communities that face perennial safe Water challenges in the Districts as ;Nyambong,Bonakye,Kiri,Brewaniase,Kakyebi,and Nyambong junction respectively.

He further added that, since the venture is capital intensive, the Assembly is inviting investors in Water and Sanitation to partner the Assembly on a Public Private Partnership Terms.

He disclosed, the Assembly pursues one of the best investor friendly policies in the country and are willing to extend such to any investors that may express interest in the District as regards water and Sanitation.This he believes will help reduce the perennial water problem and its related diseases in the district.
The DCE also acknowledged the contributions of the World Vision and other NGOs in the District for their continuous support in the provision of boreholes to some very hard to reach areas of the District.
Currently, the population of the Nkwanta South District according to the 2010 population census stands at 117,878 but only 47% of the people have direct access to safe drinking water.

Story by: Prosper Gblorkpor.