President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has given the assurance that electricity would be sent to every part of the country by the end of his four-year term.
He made this promise on the second day of his seven-day tour of the three northern regions.
“The pledge I have given is that by the end of my term, there will be universal access to electricity to all parts of Ghana, including the Upper Region,” he stressed when he was addressing the Lawra Traditional Council.
The announcement was received with a loud applause from the gathering at the forecourt of the Lawra Naa’s palace.
The president bemoaned the fact that “the Upper West Region, like the two other Northern Regions, is the most disadvantaged when it comes to electricity coverage and access.”
In view of that, he has also assured the Lawra Traditional Council, headed by the Lawra Naa, Naa Puowele Karbo III, “This year, 2017, and next year, 2018, 106 communities in the Upper West are going to be connected to the national grid.”
President Akufo-Addo announced the creation of three new municipalities in the Upper West Region, Lawra being one.
Touching on the initiatives undertaken by his government, he stated that the Free Senior High School policy had resulted in an increase of over 90,000 children who have entered secondary school this academic year, who would otherwise have dropped out at this stage.
He equally talked about the fact that teacher trainee allowances had been restored, with the nursing trainee allowances set for restoration effective Tuesday, October 10, 2017.
Again, on the revival of the National Health Insurance Scheme, President Akufo-Addo indicated that through prudent economic management within the short space of nine months, his government had been able to clear GH¢560 million out of the GH¢1.2 billion debt inherited from John Dramani Mahama’s erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
That, he said, had ensured that the businesses of healthcare providers would not collapse, and that that had encouraged healthcare providers to continue helping Ghanaians.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent